By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer, published 7-24-07, Arundel Report, The Capital
Several water tests have turned up unusually high bacteria counts in the South River and the riverkeeper hopes the county Department of Health will help to determine the cause.
But the department says its own testing indicates that some of those areas are just fine, and it has doubts about the validity of the riverkeeper's tests.
"I am worried we have something going on here," said South Riverkeeper Drew Koslow. "We want some kind of response. That's not too much to ask of the county Health Department."
Mr. Koslow took 10 samples on July 11 and 18 that showed enterococci bacteria levels well above prescribed safe levels at all but one location.
Enterococci testing measures the presence of waste from warm-blooded animals, including humans.
The health department lists a count of 105 parts per billion, or 150 parts depending on testing frequency, as the maximum safe level.
But some of the readings were in the thousands. On Wednesday, seven out of 10 locations were over 1,200 and only one, Lock Haven beach, was within the 105 CFU safety threshold, with a count of 20. CFUs are colony forming units.
Higher bacteria counts increase the chances of getting sick from exposure to the water.
The Environmental Protection Agency Web site notes: "Children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are most likely to develop illnesses or infections after coming into contact with polluted water, usually while swimming. The most common illness is gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and the intestines that can cause symptoms like vomiting, headaches and fever."
The county recommends that no one go swimming for 48 hours after rainstorms because of the increase in pollutants flushed into local waters. It also recommends washing with soap and water after swimming or other contact with local waters.
The health department will close a beach if bacteria levels exceed the guidelines or a specific event like a sewage spill affects a waterway.
While the department has no immediate plans to follow up at the places cited in the SouthRiverkeeper results, it does plan to retest in some of
the areas, but only those that are already included in the seasonal testing program and on the usual schedule.
"We have not seen patterns of elevated bacteria levels throughout our program and we will be resampling ... as part of our program," said Elin Jones, spokesman for the department.
She said the test results are of interest to the department, which hopes Mr. Koslow and the water tester, microbiologist Sally Hornor at Anne Arundel Community College, will share more information.
"We are requesting the independent lab provide more information about their collection and lab methodology," Dr. Jones said. "We are interested in knowing more about it."
The department will soon have a meeting with local riverkeepers to begin better communication about testing methods and other issues.
While looking forward to that dialogue, Mr. Koslow said he's worried about the short term.
"We have been trying to establish a better dialogue for years. But there is a whole lot of data collected they don't pay attention to. We sample weekly; they don't, in most cases. We just want a more effective program."
What concerns Mr. Koslow is the fact that the spikes in bacteria have come during extremely dry weather. Usually, there are increased enterococci levels after rainfall washes potential pollutants through storm drains.
"I have been testing on the river for four years and I have never seen counts that high unless we have had a thunderstorm," he said.
The testing on July 11, when thunderstorms hit the area, was done in the morning before the rain. There wasn't any rain between the 11th and the testing last Wednesday.
Mr. Koslow recognizes the variability involved in samples because of weather and the presence of wildlife-like resident geese near some of the testing sites.
"You don't see any variability in the health department numbers - that is my concern," he said. "We know we have failing septic systems; geese, boats dumping sewage - all sorts of sources of bacteria. They look at the same place and don't see it."
Kerry Topofski, director of environmental health for the county, points to the consistency of the county's program, following guidelines set out in the federal Beach Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act, and using a state-run, EPA-approved lab.
"This is a fairly limited program," she said. "But we stand behind it."
Dr. Hornor said the method she uses is also EPA approved.
"The county uses a completely different method, but I actually prefer this method," she said.
She said the discrepancy in results has come up before, and she and the health department did a round of testing to find out why. "Actually," she said, "our results were very similar; if anything, my results were lower."
For more information, visit the health department's Web site at www.aahealth.org; the South River Federation's Web site for testing results at www.southriverfederation.net; or the EPA beach program at www.epa.gov/beaches.
Published 07/24/07, Copyright © 2007 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
