By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
With the summer swimming season just getting under way, the Jasper County Health Department released statistics on Friday that suggest local residents should be careful which river or creek they dive in.
Of 21 sites where water was sampled in local streams, there were only two locations where E. coli levels fell below the measure recommended for whole body contact.
This week’s tests were the first of the season, with testing planned each week throughout the summer, according to Steve McKarus, environmental health services supervisor for the department. The department started regular testing three years ago, sampling sites on Center Creek, Jones Creek, Dry Fork, Jones Creek, North Fork of Spring River, Spring River and Turkey Creek.
The highest E. coli levels, which exceeded top levels measured at 2,419.76 colonies, were recorded on Center Creek at High Street in Sarcoxie, at County Road 110 and at Cedar Road and County Road 180.
One of the lower measures, at 148 colonies, also was from a Center Creek sample taken at County Road 303.
The lowest level, at 99 colonies, was from a sample on the North Fork of Spring River at County Road 210. A site on Turkey Creek at Kenser Road equaled 235 colonies — the maximum number recommended for body contact.
McKarus said the high levels measured on parts of Center Creek “were a lot higher than they were at the same time a year ago.
“It’s too early to tell anything about a particular area; you need more than one week of tests because waterways are so dynamic,” he said.
Bacteria levels increase after heavy rainfalls, McKarus said, when surface water runs off residential land and farm fields.
“So that may be an area that got heavier rainfall than other parts of the county,” he said.
In addition to tracking water quality levels, tests from Spring River samples will be used as part of a watershed management plan currently being developed. An area of Spring River through Carthage and to the east is the subject of a management plan that is required before the area can qualify for possible state and federal funds to address problems degrading the water quality.
The county is testing samples taken from seven sites on Spring River; all exceed the 235 colony level in tests taken this week. The highest is at Francis Street in Carthage, at 1,986 colonies; the lowest, at County Road 85, at 816 colonies.
Officials and area residents met on the issue in April, and McKarus said he is hopeful a draft version of the plan can be outlined soon.
