Education For Environmental Responsibility

Human waste in waterways

Farm coalition finds contamination in samples in three Valley counties.

This article appeared in the Fresno Bee on January 5, 2007

By Dennis Pollock, The Fresno Bee

Samples from waterways taken by a coalition of farmers in three central San Joaquin Valley counties showed an unexpected source of bacterial contamination — human waste.

The farm coalition routinely tests to see whether their operations are contaminating streams, sloughs or rivers.

"We honestly expected to find more cow and chicken contamination," said Michael L. Johnson, who headed the University of California study of samples taken last August in Madera, Merced and Stanislaus counties. "We were surprised it turned out the way it did, the fact that human DNA is so high in almost all the samples."

Some farmers are concerned the contamination could put crops at risk if bacteria enter their irrigation water. And a spokesman for state regulators said the state is already poised to increase monitoring of septic tanks, which could be among suspected culprits.

A coalition leader and Johnson, associate research ecologist at the John Muir Institute of the Environment, a part of the University of California at Davis, stopped short of saying the findings exonerated farming operations from contributing to the contamination.

Liz Kanter, a spokeswoman for the California water boards, said state officials feel the information is preliminary because it does not detail the amount of E. coli bacteria in the samples.

"We want to pay to take the samples and further refine them, working with UC Davis to get more data," she said.

Kanter said the state is waiting for a final report that could be released as early as today.

"We want to know more, what the scope of the work entailed, how random was the sampling," she said. "It's not conclusive for us."

The report, which researchers termed preliminary, was commissioned by the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition, an association of farmers and ranchers that monitors water under a new water-quality regulatory system the state put in place four years ago.

The same coalition, in separate testing in previous years, found high levels of E. coli and a common pesticide in Merced and Madera counties waterways.

Parry Klassen, who manages the coalition, said the August study cost about $10,000.

He said it's not clear what the source of contamination was, but the study indicates it's unlikely to have come from dairy operations, particularly given the timing, when there would not have been storms that could have caused runoff.

"It could be from a Porta-John," he said. "Commercial operators have to show records that they are dumping [waste] in a certified spot. But if somebody buys one and is unscrupulous, it's another matter. It could be vagrants along the waterways, or it could be old septic tanks."

Two years ago, state legislation was signed into law that required increased monitoring of septic systems. The state water board is expected to release a final draft of an environmental impact report within three months that would be a step toward imposing closer monitoring, Kanter said.

Klassen said it is unlikely anyone would swim in any of the waterways in the three counties that showed human fecal contamination. All are sloughs, which are low-water drainage ditches, or creeks.

All drain into the San Joaquin River Delta, Klassen said, and some cities use the delta as their source for drinking water. The water also is used to irrigate crops, Klassen said, and that has raised concern among some growers.

"It wouldn't be an issue on crops such as cotton," he said, "but it may be an issue on others. That's something we need to find out more about. Everybody is so risk averse now."

Klassen said he plans to meet with directors of environmental health in each of the three counties. "We don't have the authority to do what may need to be done about this, we can't be knocking on doors and telling people, 'Hey, look at that.'"

Sonya Harrigfeld, director of environmental resources for Stanislaus County, said the preliminary study is a good start.

"We need additional data before we can start making conclusions as to what they found," she said.

Keith Isozaki, a supervisor with the division of environmental health for Merced County, said the preliminary study was "enlightening, but unfortunately, the results are not quantifiable. It's not clear how extensive the problem is."

Paul Betancourt, a member of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board and past president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, said he is seeking to meet with Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to discuss the contamination.

"I think the feds will help us more than the regional board," he said. "They have resources to deal with drinking water problems that we don't have."

The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6364 or dpollock@fresnobee.com.

On the Net: http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/22470.html