Some Thoughts About Water Quality Assurances

Bacteria, E coli, in area county streams is persistently high and it is unacceptable.

Much jargon is tossed about and it typically confuses the Public: such as non-point source—or point source—contamination, TMDLs, or Total Maximum Daily Loads, fecal coliforms, DNA sampling, a host of scientific bacteria names. And there are others (for which all are worthy of discussion, but which a complacent public devotes little attention) used to describe water conditions and developments. There is a learning curve that the Public must engage, just as the High School members of the Stream Team must learn, and learn how to communicate.

Then there are the dodging, foot-shuffling, and obfuscating attempts by the media, the local City, County, State, and Federal Agencies and their Agents to transfer fault or jurisdiction or action to Others. This is, simply, too embarrassing for an educator to explain, for a Public to ignore, and for students to remain quiet. A case in point: (Authority—A) We’d like you to collect data for us. (Responders—R) OK, we’d like to do that since we are budding scientists. (A) We didn’t ask for “that” data, we want you to stick to collecting “our” data. (R) We know, but we discovered a problem and it needed investigating. (A) You aren’t trained for this, we cannot use “this” data. (R) OK, but we are still going to collect it because this is a national problem, it’s here in our area, and we have researched the problem of training and testing and quality assurance protocols with federally approved techniques and commercial equipment. The problem needs remediation. What will you help us do?

And so it goes….

TMDLs will be written on the latest 303(d) listed impaired streams in Newton and Jasper County. It may be 2 to 3 years before that report is written. That TMDL may not even address remediation, but may likely address a request for more study—monitoring? How much is enough? I ask MDNR. The data collected so far in Jasper County represents almost 3 years of baseline data on E coli bacteria in ALL of the Spring River and its tributaries. ALL of this water should be on the 303(d) list for impaired streams. And IF an independently organized Watershed Organization can get grant money more easily by addressing the needs of IMPAIRED waters, why is it so difficult to get the listing, especially since the State, or a Federal agency(s) will be overseeing the plan that is attempting to remediate the identified impairments? Talk about learning curve snafu, welcome to Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring. If a problem exists, a solution is created. If the solution involves procedural steps, then those steps should be clearly, explicitly, made public. The steps involved should be trimmed of bureaucratic interference to expedite solutions, not hamstrung like suspended writs of Habeas Corpus for incarceration in GITMO.

THE FUTURE ROLE OF DNA

This may be a toss-up since it is being said that the species identification of DNA, for example, poultry, can be altered by changing the dietary feed of the stock. If food formulations are changed every 6 months, or so, a new DNA sampling would have to be done. That might be prohibitively expensive.

The usefulness of DNA identification, of course, is to help pinpoint the source(s) of contamination. If Hog CAFO A, Cattle CAFO B, Poultry CAFO C, Municipality D, etc., can be identified as a polluter of a stream for which all empty their effluent discharges, then well and good—those identified entities must correct their use practices.

THE FUTURE OF STANDARDS

The purpose of standards is to establish benchmarks for comparative evaluations. For example, the Federal Department of Agriculture has a standard of so many milligrams of rat excrement per kilogram, or ton of flour—the ratio is arbitrary, but the fact that rat excrement is an acceptable ingredient of your household flour is well established.

So, for whom are Standards written? Economic interests? Public Health? Both? Maybe consuming a little rat excrement won’t harm you, but what about chemicals? Eating rat excrement is probably repulsive to every human because rat feces are a readily familiar agent, but are chemicals as familiar? Much reporting in the popular media is said about the dangers of Lead and Mercury, PCBs and others, but there are so many other chemical compounds used in the food and drug industry that are unknowns as either being repulsive, or dangerous to health, or fatal if usage is misunderstood.

With a Global Economy surging about us, maybe a DDT cocktail from castoff US pesticides, or a “new” Toluene spray bouquet for household odors, perhaps a melamine wheat-gluten product from China, or produce from Iraq’s depleted uranium contaminated cropland—how cynical does one want to get with respect to what may actually occur? Muckraking aside, the serious issue of Standards with respect to the Public Health is a valid concern. It should be a common practice for Agencies to explain why a Standard is set as it is, and if opposition to that Standard arises, agreements to accommodate change should exist. And if a Standard does not exist for a chemical, or compounds of chemicals--organic or inorganic--they should, based on sound scientific rationales.

The Public entrusts Government to aid and benefit the Welfare of it’s interests--health and safety being foremost of all considerations. Government works for the People, the Public Welfare, a fact that seems oft forgotten and which conveniently during these Independence Day Celebrations we are reminded, perhaps for longer than a short while. And it should be short while, not longer, that something gets done to remediate the E coli in the streams of Jasper, Lawrence, and Newton Counties.
CW Christian

Well, for the third 30-day period of this recreational water season (as defined from April through October), E coli bacteria rule the water.

Even though this has been an unusually wet Spring, 3 previous years of baseline E coli data on the Spring River have indicated that wet, or dry, the numbers are staggering. If you include the winter months, the non-recreational period of November through March, the numbers just do not vary significantly.

On the front page of today's Joplin Globe, the Jasper County Health Department (JCHD) has posted evidence of it's first sampling collections on County streams. The damning verdict is that the evidence indicates--Stream Team and JCHD--that ALL of the County streams tested are highly concentrated with E coli bacteria.

If you have a County road map, or one of those DeLorme topographic State/County map collections, the Spring River, Buck Branch, North Fork, Dry Fork, Center Creek, and Turkey Creek can be traced to the appropriate roadway intersection as designated below.

Recall that the geometric mean of 126 is the E coli red-flag value for the State's 30-day testing period that warns against bodily contact with the water. NONE of the streams tested for the last 90 days have been below this geometric mean maximum value. There have been daily fluctuations below the State one day maximum of 200 and the Federal one day maximum of 235, but week in and week out, the persistently high concentrations of E coli exist, and the conclusion is that the County's streams are impaired and should be placed on the State's 303(d) list of Impaired Waters.

 For the Spring River:

                Geometric Mean

Bowers Mill           Insufficient data

County Road 30        276

County Road 85        241

Hwy 37                Insufficient data

Forest Mill           Insufficient data

Kellogg Lake          209

Francis Street        226

County Road 180       343

County Lane 216       179

Quaker Mill           468

Hwy 43                488

County Road 270       188

Maple Road            399

Kafir Road            399



For the North Fork:



Hwy 43                328

County Road 210       206

Hwy O                 402

Hwy M (Baseline)      295

West Mercer, Jasper   287



For Buck Branch:



County Road 160       509

County Road 180       489



For Dry Fork:



Hwy 37                Insufficient data

Hwy BB                Insufficient data

County Road 100       509

County Road 150       613



For Center Creek:



High St., Sarcoxie    340

Hwy 37                379

County Road 110       229

Hwy 71                221

Old Hwy 66            190

Stones Corner         209

County Road 303       216



For Turkey Creek:



Kenser Road           164

Lone Elm              379

Fox Bluff             573



For White Oak Creek:



Hwy 96                Insufficient data

Hwy 37                Insufficient data



For Cave Spring Branch:



Hwy F                 Insufficient data

NEXT WEEK: So what if ALL of the County streams ARE declared impaired, what does that mean, and how do we go about fixing this E coli bacteria problem?
CW Christian

For the Spring River:

                   E coli        Phosphate   Electroconductivity   

County Road 180     178.5          0.48         350

Quaker Mill         125.0          0.63         350

Hwy 43              148.3          0.64         350

Maple Road          137.4          0.51         340

Kafir Road          161.6          0.45         340

Kellogg Lake        No data collected

Forest Mill         No data collected

Hwy 37              No data collected

Bowers Mill         No data collected



For Buck Branch:



County Road 160     248.1          0.29         390

County Road 180     261.3          0.30         430



For Dry Fork:



County Road 150     290.9          0.34         320

Hwy BB              No data collected

Hwy 37              No data collected



For North Fork:



Hwy 43              140.1          0.41         320

Hwy 0               178.9          0.51         300

Hwy M (Baseline)    178.5          0.53         290



For White Oak Creek:



Hwy 37              No data collected

Hwy 96              No data collected



For Cave Springs Branch:



Hwy F               No data collected

200 is the State maximum one-day value for E coli that warns against full body contact with the water. Rainfall (previous 7): 0.03 in. Water Temperature ranged from 20 to 24 degrees C. Missouri has no State Standard for Phosphate, but the Federal value for streams which feed reservoirs (Grand Lake of the Cherokee, OK) ranges from 0.01--0.03 mg/L.
CW Christian

For the Spring River:

                    E coli   Phosphate   Electroconductivity

County Road 180      579.4          0.51          310

Quaker Mill          410.6          0.72          320

Hwy 43               920.8          0.57          320

Maple Road           365.4          0.54          290

Kafir Road           387.3          0.68          280

Kellogg Lake         No data collected

Forest Mill          No data collected

Hwy 37               No data collected

Bowers Mill          No data collected



For Buck Branch:



County Road 160      307.6          0.54          350

County Road 180      261.3          0.43          390



For Dry Fork:



County Road 150      435.2          0.60          310

Hwy BB               No data collected

Hwy 37               No data collected



For North Fork:



Hwy 43               261.3          0.85          240

Hwy O                307.6          0.67          240

Hwy M (Baseline)     178.5          0.67          230



For White Oak Creek:



Hwy 37               No data collected

Hwy 96               No data collected



For Cave Springs Branch:



Hwy F                No data collected

200 is the State maximum one-day value for E coli that warns against full body contact with the water. Rainfall (previous 7): 8.52 in. Water Temperature ranged from 20 to 23 degrees C. Missouri has no State Standard for Phosphate, but the Federal value for streams which feed reservoirs (Grand Lake of the Cherokee, OK) ranges from 0.01--0.03 mg/L.
CW Christian

Normally, data collections are done on Thursdays, but recent flooding has kept streams and rivers swollen and roads covered. Samples were collected this morning and results will be posted Sunday afternoon.

Collecting the samples was unpleasant this morning. The air reeked of already rotting vegetation and churned-up sediment covered the banks, grasses, crops, and bent-over trees. All appears to be worse than the 1993 flooding. My roof suffered storm damage and the rain poured through the kitchen ceiling, but many others experienced flooding in their homes and lost crops. Be sure to disinfect contaminated belongings and the structures as well. If you believe your well may have been contaminated by flood water, get the County Health Department to check it out; use bottled water, or boil the water until you know it's safe.

Oh, and for Father's Day: Breakfast out, with a mid-afternoon barbecue--I'm taking the day off.
CW Christian