Treated sewage could enable growth by providing key nutrients or seeding the sediments with enterococci strains that can grow in the environment. This study is to test the hypothesis that the flux of bacteria into the water column is rate-limited by the transfer of bacteria across the sediment/water interface. Two conceptual models are derived for the transfer of bacteria to the water column from the sediment/water interface: convective diffusion of isolated bacteria and resuspension of particle-associated bacteria. The model predictions are directly tested together with field measurements of bacteria and sediment in an effluent-dominated stream where high concentrations of enterococci in this stream originate primarily from growth of the bacteria in stream sediments. The results reveal that high concentrations of enterococci in this stream are transported primarily by resuspension of particle-associated bacteria accumulated at the sediment/water interface, either in the form of bacterial aggregates or in the form of inorganic particles.