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Faecal enterococci ecology outside the host is of great relevance when using these organisms as indicators of water quality. As a complement to New Zealand epidemiological studies of bathing water quality and health risk, a study of the environmental occurrence of these organisms has been undertaken. Specific concerns over the use of enterococcj derive from the unique situation in New Zealand which has few chlorinated sewage effluents, a high ratio of grazing animals to humans, and significant inputs of animal processing effluents into the environment. Human and animal faecal wastes are the main sources, with 10⁶–10⁷cfu/100ml found in human sewage. Analysis of domestic and feral animal faeces found enterococci in the range of 10¹–10⁶cfu/g with considerable variation between species. The latter observations support the notion that a considerable proportion of the load in urban/rural catchments and …