By Mike Masterson
Posted: April 19, 2014 at 2:52 a.m.
"E. coli soars in Big Creek By Mike Masterson Posted: April 19, 2014 at 2:52 a.m. National Park Service water-quality tests conducted earlier this month along Big Creek near where it converges with the Buffalo National River showed harmful E. coli bacteria colonies soaring to about 30 times the number ordinarily found in that tributary of the country’s first national river. That’s what Chuck Bitting, the natural resources program manager for the Buffalo National River, told me this week. Bitting also was concerned by the low level of dissolved oxygen measured in this stream that flows alongside the state-permitted hog factory six miles upstream at Mount Judea. He was quick to say that while the reading of 4,880 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters of water represented an unexpectedly big number, the sample was taken when the creek was coming up, when bacterial counts are expected to be greatest. By comparison, the 64 previous tests conducted over the past year showed levels in the creek have ranged between a mean of 63 colonies per 100 milliliters during regular (base) flows to a mean of 229 colonies when high waters were falling. The latest was the only test taken as waters were rising, Bitting explained. E. coli (Escherichia coli) in streams is released in waste from digestive systems of warm-blooded organisms. It’s the cause behind a number of infections in humans. The Park Service hasn’t determined the source of the contamination. Other streams tested nearby were also much higher than normal, yet had about half of the E. coli of Big Creek, and dissolved oxygen in normal ranges. “The Big Creek E. coli result was a large anomalous number from what we are used to seeing,” said Bitting. He said the agency began testing Big Creek about 13 months ago, as the Cargill supplied and supported hog factory housing up to 6,500 swine began operating. “We knew we needed a better baseline to detect contamination over time,” he said. “This sample drawn about a quarter-mile from where Big Creek enters the Buffalo is by far the highest we’ve seen yet.” Bitting said that result came following heavy rainfall that drained from surrounding forests and fields, making it difficult to determine the source of so much E. coli. He also said it’s common for those levels to rise throughout the Buffalo River watershed with the spring rains each year. “Still, I was somewhat concerned to see such a high number last week,” he said. Asked if he suspected that so many hogs arriving in the watershed then spraying their waste across some 500-plus acres of fields near Big Creek is behind the huge elevation of contamination through runoff, Bitting said: “I hope the answer is no.” More Park Service water tests are scheduled, which could help determine just how “anamolous” this early April reading proves to be and hopefully pinpoint the cause of all that bacteria. Being employed by the National Park Service, Bitting understandably must speak guardedly about his work on behalf of that agency. I, however, am not thusly constrained. And my opinion: I’m not the least surprised to see this unacceptable test result. Neither are many others, I suspect. I’m not saying all this elevated E. coli is draining from the hog-farm fields. But even the head of our state Department of Environmental Quality (cough) Teresa Marks, who somehow retains her gubernatorial-appointed position, has been quoted saying she won’t be surprised if it does pollute in these mountains underlain by porous limestone karst. After all, my friends, in wrongheadedly approving the permit allowing a hog concentrated animal feeding operation into this wholly inappropriate location, the state actually allows this factory to leak thousands of gallons a day of untreated hog waste into the Buffalo River watershed. Strikes me that privately owned Cargill also finds itself in a most precarious public relations position if it’s shown that the factory it helped create before fully supplying and supporting it is in fact responsible for these highly elevated bacteria readings, or any other contamination flowing into the Buffalo. Perhaps testing can distinguish between the types of contamination from different animals, or perhaps compare E. coli readings in Big Creek from above and below the factory."