In the final year of a five-year program, the department is sampling water from coves in the Upper Lake of the Ozarks from the Brown Bend area (Mile Marker 61) to the U.S. Highway 65 bridge (Mile Marker 90). The purpose of the program is to develop a five-year baseline that will assist in future studies of the lake’s health.
All of the coves sampled Monday will be tested monthly through October, including immediately following the Independence Day and Labor Day weekends.
The state water quality standard for swimming and related whole body contact recreation is a geometric mean of 126 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters of water during the entire recreational season. A geometric mean is a statistical method used to analyze data collected over a period of time.
Because the state standard requires data collected over the entire summer before a determination is made, the department reports monthly results as compared to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s single-sample standard of 235 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters of water for swimming beaches.
E. coli is a bacteria found in the intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals, including humans. While most strains of E. coli are harmless, some can cause gastrointestinal illness. The testing process used in this study does not differentiate between strains.
These bacteria and other pathogens can reach lake water from many different sources, both human and animal. For some people, such as children, elderly or those with weakened immune systems, even low levels of these bacteria may cause illness.
No comments:
Post a Comment