Teresa talks science 

Teresa Turk, a marine biologist and researcher dedicated to protecting the Buffalo National River, spoke at the Harrison library last week where she outlined the latest scientific findings about water-quality studies along the river and a major tributary, Big Creek, that flows alongside the controversial C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea.

Here's the essence of what I gleaned from her session: Tourists on the river increased by 300,000 between 2015 and 2016. Resulting revenue climbed from $72 to $77 million. Related jobs increased from 969 to 1,200. "While many will say the hog factory isn't affecting tourism," she said, "one could say the pollution, such as thick algae blooms spanning 17 miles, has not yet become obvious enough to get the word out that our national river's in trouble."

Dr. John Van Brahana's groundwater dye-tracing studies found a very complex, widely connected hydrology system with positive dye results: Ten miles distant at Mitch Hill Spring upstream of Carver on the Buffalo; eastward to Cave Creek; and, most startling, even above the Big Creek Research and Extension Team's upstream water-quality testing site on Big Creek.

"Having found positive dye results above [the team's] upstream site is very significant because [it] uses that spot as a 'control' to determine if the hog factory is impacting water quality downstream," she said. "So by having a positive dye finding above even that location after being injected below, it makes the idea of this being a research control site is naturally invalidated."

The U.S. Geological Survey found low dissolved oxygen 20.5 percent of the time in its study of Big Creek. That exceeds the state standard of 10 percent. Low dissolved oxygen affects the stream's health and, even the lives of various stream fauna, and is caused by algal growth.

Turk said Big Creek, with waste-spreading fields along its banks, had the highest algal growth of five streams the USGS examined. "By having low dissolved oxygen well in excess of our 10 percent state limit, Big Creek should have been placed on the EPA's 303 (d) list of impaired streams in 2015. E.coli studies from 2014 indicate Big Creek also met criteria as an impaired stream while the 2015 data has yet to be analyzed." Preliminary results from the Big Creek team and another study show E.coli levels do not consistently exceed state standards, and similar information from the National Park Service has yet to be examined.

Turk said research shows nitrates are consistently higher downstream of the factory compared with upstream. "Although the nitrates aren't close to violating the approved drinking water limit, they are much higher than they should be."