By Andy Ostmeyer

Globe Assistant Metro Editor

As a boy, Preston Ross swam and played in area streams and creeks. He was even baptized in one near Commerce, Okla.

But now, as the environmental health officer for the Ottawa County, Okla., Health Department, Ross can't recommend doing the same. He said there's a blanket advisory against swimming in the streams, rivers and lakes in Ottawa County - including upper Grand Lake - because of high levels of bacteria.

"It's dangerous," Ross said. "Basically, the swimming holes that are not chlorinated we recommend not to swim in," he said.

While baptism might save the soul, immersion in a river or stream today might not be good for the flesh. The same holds for wading and swimming. That's because the sins of the region, in the words of the old spiritual, gather at the river, which today may be a stew of bacteria such as E. coli or enterococci, and heavy metals such lead and mercury, or other problems.

It's not just Ottawa County.

Carl Hayes, environmental official with the Cherokee County, Kan., Health Department, recommends people follow the same approach there.

"When in doubt, stay out," he said.

In the land of spring-fed streams and rope swings, of wading with ultralight gear for bass, where summers at the swimming hole are as natural as fireworks on the Fourth of July, there's room for doubt.

The Globe has learned:

No one knows what's in the water in most area streams and creeks. The state doesn't survey for bacteria normally, and, with the exception of Newton County, neither do most county health departments.

In McDonald County, which draws tens of thousands of people each summer to wade, fish, canoe and swim in Elk River and its tributaries, state and county officials don't have any information on bacteria levels. And this, despite the fact that Little Sugar - a main tributary of the Elk - pours out of Bella Vista, Ark., where only 20 percent of the 25,000 to 27,000 residents are on a sewer system. The rest depend on 9,500 septic tanks, according to Bella Vista officials.

What testing that has been done has found streams at times loaded with E. coli and enterococci, which can make people sick. Spring River has "unbelievable numbers," according to one stream team member. Preliminary sampling done last year throughout Newton County found "62 percent of all samples were at levels considered unsafe for swimming due to high levels of E. coli. These high levels were found throughout the county."

Surveys at swimming areas and access points such as Lime Kiln Conservation Area and near Tipton Ford this spring showed elevated numbers in May and early June. The latest surveys done June 20 and June 27 found the numbers back down at those areas, below the point of concern, but still high upstream, near the county line.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, while it leaves bacteria monitoring to the counties, does have a four-year-old list of "impaired" streams and rivers that includes parts or all of Shoal Creek, Indian Creek, Little Sugar, Big Sugar, Elk River, Turkey Creek, Center Creek and even Table Rock Lake. Some are on the list because of high nitrates and phosphates, but others are on there because of elevated levels of fecal coliform (Upper Shoal Creek in Barry County) or heavy metals (Turkey and Center creeks.)

It's not just physical contact with streams that may be dangerous, either. There's a nationwide advisory on eating largemouth bass caught in streams, ponds and lakes because of mercury contamination. Kansas officials also warn residents in Cherokee County not to eat shellfish (mussels, clams, crayfish) from parts of Shoal Creek and Spring River because of lead and cadmium levels.

'I'd like to know'

On a recent summer day, with temperatures in the 90s, more than two dozen people gravitated to the Stone's Corner access along Center Creek, north of Joplin. Music was blaring. Children and adults splashed with inner tubes. Daniel Crum, 33, of Carthage, rested in the shade of a tree.

"I'd like to know," he said, since he has six children, "exactly what is in the water."

"We do this at least twice a week," he said, pointing to the swimming hole.

Although he lives less than a mile from Spring River and used to go there, he said he gave up on that several years ago. His children often had earaches and stomachaches that he attributed to the water.

And while he hasn't given up swimming in other creeks, he said he has passed up keeping the fish he catches there.

"I won't let my family eat it," he said.

Charlie Clark, 19, and Nikki Doody, 20, both of Webb City, cooled off in the creek while Johnny Cash "walked the line" through a car stereo.

"I'd like to know if it is safe for her," Doody said, referring to her 3-month-old baby. "I'd like to know.

"Sometimes there is more than this here," she added, pointing to the crowd at the boat ramp.

'Unbelievable'

Long before Renewable Environmental Solutions was accused of fouling the air in Carthage, long before the company was sued by the city, pursued by the attorney general, and temporarily shut down by the governor, Stream Team 2416 in Carthage was warning people to get out of Spring River.

Bacteria monitoring at five sites upstream and downstream of Carthage has regularly picked up E. coli and enterococci at levels that exceed standards defined as safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, said Frank Martinez, a member of the team.

According to federal standards, there should not be more than 126 colonies of E. coli and no more than 33 colonies of enterococci per 100 milliliters of water.

But in April, all five locations (Morrow Mill, Francis Street, Tucker's Ford, an unnamed tributary near Butterball, and Kellogg Lake) exceeded standards for one or both bacteria. Similar numbers were found again in June.

Often, the stream team, which consists largely of students from Carthage High School, has found what is called the most probable number: 2,419.6 for either E. coli or enterococci at one or more locations. Martinez said the bacteria are so widespread the team's equipment simply can't measure it.

"You are sitting up here at unbelievable numbers," Martinez said. "There is absolutely no misinterpretation of the data. It is frightening to think we have allowed this to happen to our rivers and streams."

There is always some level of these bacteria present in the water, he said, because they originate in the guts of warm-blooded creatures, including humans, wild animals and domestic livestock. The group began surveying for enterococci this year because it is more specific to humans, he said.

"Agriculture had done a very good job of trying to clean up its act," Martinez added, when asked about sources of bacteria. "The largest contributor now seems to be urban runoff."

On the morning he spoke, a young man was fishing just downstream from Kellogg Lake, wading knee deep.

"You have any kind of open wound ... that's a point of entry (for the bacteria) ... with the numbers we're finding," Martinez said.

"How would I rate it as far as swimming quality? Stay out of it," he said. "Would I go skiing and fishing in Grand Lake now, knowing what I know now? No way."

Martinez said the air quality in Carthage improved after politicians came to town and began hearing from residents. He would like to see the same happen with water quality.

"Come and drink the water," he invited, "and let's see how you feel about it then, when you have made several trips to the bathroom. They got all up in arms about the odor. Now let's get up in arms about the river.

"Unfortunately, the powers that be aren't listening," he added. "It is so frustrating for us."

'About every place'

If Spring River has a champion in Stream Team 2416, that's more than can be said for other streams and creeks.

"I think what you are going to find is most folks don't do water-quality testing," said Bob Kulp, administrator with the Newton County Health Department.

He implemented a sampling program last summer with interns initially monitoring 83 sites for E. coli, ammonia, nitrates and phosphates.

"It would have been beneficial to obtain more data, however, there was enough gathered to suggest that Newton County could have some problems," a report of the program stated. The report noted that 2005 was a wet year, which could have affected the results as the rains flushed waste into the streams, and said more monitoring was needed.

Reduced sampling has continued this spring with a volunteer who has found elevated levels at sites at different times along Indian and Hickory creeks and at many sites along Shoal Creek, which is one of the primary swimming holes for the county.

"We found problems in just about every place at one time or another," Kulp said.

Ultimately, he said, he wants to set up a mechanism for notifying residents when there is a problem.

Officials with the health departments in Jasper, Barry and McDonald counties do not survey for bacteria in local creeks and streams, despite the fact that problems have occurred. In 2000, a Miami, Okla., man using a rope swing in the Elk River received a cut that became infected with E. coli.

Based on Environmental Protection Agency standards, every time a river or stream has more than 126 colonies of E. coli per 100 milliliters of water, experts expect 8 illnesses for every 1,000 people exposed, said Steve Krysiak, regional environmental health official with the Missouri Department of Health.

Tony Moehr, administrator with the Jasper County Health Department, said: "There is no specific statutory authority to do anything. When you come right down to it, we have a long line we are required to enforce."

"I don't have the resources for it," added Kathleen King, administrator for the Barry County Health Department.

The administrator for the McDonald County Health Department could not be reached for comment but left a message that it's an issue she will discuss with the county commissioners in the future.

Bob Schulz, stream team coordinator for the Ozarks with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said volunteers, such as those in Carthage and in Newton County, are helpful, but most stream teams in the Ozarks don't do E. coli testing, which is expensive and requires additional training.

Those that do, he said, have similar findings.

"The results are frequently above what the recommended levels are for body contact," Schulz said. "It could be hazardous."

Christian County has the only health department in the region that does regular monitoring of swimming holes in streams and creeks and posts those sites when dangerous, he said.

Karen Potter, director for the Christian County Health Department, said it commits a full-time staff person to one day a week in the summer to gather water samples at nine sites. The department augments that with supplies from the Missouri Department of Conservation. The department also has its own lab, but she still called the program "expensive for us to maintain."

"Our resources are stretched pretty thin but we do think water quality in the county is important," she added.

The department tests at public-access sites, and if it gets two hot samples - she said their threshold is 200 colonies per 100 milliliters of water - it posts a warning advising people to avoid contact with the stream.

Asked how often the department found a contaminated site and posted a warning, she said, "Frequently. And we have done it several times this summer."

The department had a warning posted at a site on the Finley River last week.

People pay attention to it, Potter said. "They are very responsive, if they are aware of it and if they see the sign."

And just as some people check periodically on river levels before going out on area streams and rivers, the department has people calling in asking about E. coli levels before heading out.

Kulp said the goal of the recent testing in Newton County is to "raise public awareness," which resonates with Martinez and his stream team, and even in counties where no bacteria sampling is under way.

"Education is what brings about change," said King, with the Barry County Health Department. "Without that information we may never get the change."