How Clean Is It?

Andy Ostmeyer and The Joplin Globe, Sunday, August 27, 2006, lead with an excellent series of articles: Many Area Streams, Creeks Show High Bacteria Levels; Results of Bacteria Sampling; Tribe Testing for Bacteria; and Carthage Teens Continue Survey of River Bacteria Levels.

In all, forty sites in Southwest Missouri were tested for bacteria levels by Stream team volunteers, county health department officials or at the request of The Joplin Globe. Lawrence and Newton Counties use the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 235 clonies of Escherichia coli per 100 mililiters of water as their thresholds for a one-time test. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has a standard of 126 colonies of E. coli per 100 mililiters of water for what it defines as whole body contact recreation, such as swimming. The standard is the mean for five tests conducted within 30 days.

The locations of those sites and the bacteria levels were:
[Sampling on August 17, 2006 for The Joplin Globe by Newton County Health Department]
Indian Creek at Anderson 27.2
Elk River at Cowskin Conservation Area (Hwy 43 in McDonald County)35.5
Elk River at Mt. Shira Conservation Area (north of Noel in McDonald County)13.9
Elk River at River Ranch Campground Swim Beach in Noel 12
Elk River at Big Elk Camp in Pineville 69.5
Little Sugar Creek just upstream of Pineville 21.6
Little Sugar Creek near Caverna 56.1
Big Sugar Creek at Cyclone 3.0
Shoal Creek near Ridgeley 2419.6
Shoal Creek near Pioneer 98.5
Clear Creek west of Pierce City 172.3
Center Creek at Hwy 43 90.9
Center Creek near Smithfield 74.9
Spring River near Waco 146.7
North Fork of Spring Ribver near Galesburg 35.9
Spring River at Purcell 110.0
Center Creek north of Fidelity 83.9

[Sampling on August 16, 2006 by Newton County Health Department]
Indian Creek - Boulder City 866.4
Shoal Creek at Limn Kiln Conservation Area near Neosho 98.4
Hickory Creek in Neosho 461.1
Lost Creek near Racine 1986.3
Shoal Creek at Wildcat Park near Joplin 41.9
Shoal Creek near Tipton Ford 178.5
Shoal Creek near Granby 154.1
Capps Creek near Jolly Mill 46.5
Shoal Creek near Barry County Line 1299.7
Clear Creek east of Ritchey 1046.2

[Sampling on August 2, 2006 by Lawrence County Health Department]
Clear Creek in Pierce City 158.5
Goose Creek near YMCA Camp 121.1
Williams Creek near Baptist Hill Boat Launch 128.1
Williams Creek at Mt. Vernon City Park 160.7
Stream in Marionville City Park 101.2
Spring in Marionville City Park 42.8
Big Spring at Baptist Hill 20.1
Spring River at Farm Road 1040 152.9

[Sampling on August 19, 2006 by Stream Team #2416]
Spring River near Morrow Mill in Carthage 365.4
Kellogg Lake in Carthage 81.6
Spring Tributary in Carthage for Spring River 2419.6
Spring River at Francis Street 166.4
Spring River at Tucker's Ford 88.4

Regional Water Quality Resources
Wayne Christian, Stream Team Leader
Frank Martinez, Stream Team Volunteer
Bill Miller, Stream Team Volunteer
Cindy Davies, Director, Southwest Regional Office for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Bob Kulp, Adm. Newton County Health Department
Roxanne Weldon, Dir. Environmental Land Management, Eastern Shawnee Tribe
Allen Reed, Water Quality Officer, Eastern Shawnee Tribe
Gary Boone, Environmental Specialist, Lawrence County Health Department

Quotes from the article
1. "Our position is that there is a public health threat, and it needs to be addressed." - Wayne Christian, Strem Team Leader

2. "We need to be advising the public about the safety of the water they are getting in. As a public health agency, that is one of our responsibilities." - Bob Kulp, Adm. Newton County Health Dept.

3. "There is no way of knowing unless you test for E. coli speciation", referring to DNA analysis that can determine whether the waste in the water is from humans, cattle, poultry, or wild animals or birds. - Roxane Weldon, Dir. Environmental Land Management, Eastern Shawnee Tribe

Is It Safe to Swim?

The Joplin Globe, Wednesday, August 2, 2006, poses the question to readers, Is It Safe to Swim? The article identifies the various tributaries (and monitoring sites) that empty into Grand Lake, including: Elk River near Tiff City, Spring River at Quapaw, OK, Neosho River at Commerce, OK, and Honey Creek near Grove, OK.

The answer to the question is that swimming is "not supported" because of bacterial contamination at every monitoring site along the rivers and streams that feed into the Grand Lake-Neosho River Watershed. It all comes down to numbers. For example, the article states that the mean enterocci bacteria in Honey Creek is 362.7 colonies per 100 milliliters of water, 10 times the federal standard of 33 colonies per 100 milliliter for enterococci. The article quotes the United States Geological Survey, "At a level of 35 colonies of enterococci per 100 milliliters of water, 190 of every 1,000 people who get into the water might be expected to come down with diarrea. In other words, if water quality of a particular waterbody is maintained at or below this standard, then swimmers have a 1.9% chance of becoming ill."