ASHLAND — Relax, this isn’t a “scare piece” trying to get more clicks and comments through fear.
The hope here is north central Ohio residents will feel safer after reading this information about the harmful bacteria in the region.
E. coli is an abbreviation for Escherichia coli, a bacteria found in nature, food and even in human intestines. Most strains won’t cause people any harm. But there are a few pathogenic strains that can make people extremely sick, from diarrhea and urinary track infections (UTIs) to pneumonia and respiratory problems.
The bad strains are “Shiga toxin-producing” E. coli and can affect people of any age, with the young and old the most susceptible.
An aspect of E. coli control that frustrates a lot of health officials is the bacteria can be found almost anywhere. There’s contaminated food, unpasteurized milk, drinking infected water, from farms and cattle or contact with animal or human feces — E. coli can be present.
That’s one of the reasons the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) tests the water quality of their lakes twice a week. Higher-than-normal levels of E. coli have been found at Charles Mill Lake the past two weeks.
“We use top-of-the-line technology for water sampling. The EPA has a threshold of 235 (parts per 100 million) and we’ve been seeing higher levels. Normally, our average has been 146,” water tester Fernanda Craig of the MWCD said.
The high levels of E. coli at Charles Mill have been contained to shallow pockets and inlets where water can’t move.
“Expect poison from the standing water,” as the poet William Blake wrote in the early 1800s.
“We’ve been talking to our engineers and they are going to dig out a sandbar to help with water flow,” Craig said.
The MWCD is also looking at adding a fountain, handing out informative brochures and posting signs near the beach and other swim areas.
The MWCD is not a regulatory agency and has no legal obligation to test the water. A lot of parks and areas in Ohio don’t test at all.
In the more open water areas of Charles Mill, the bacteria count has been 10 times lower than shallow areas over the past few weeks.
“The tests are completed every Tuesday and Thursday, and the results come back a day later,” said Adria Bergeron from the MWCD.
You can check on those results, along with a lot of other bodies of water in the state, on the Ohio Dept. of Health’s “beach guard” website: http://publicapps.odh.ohio.gov/beachguardpublic/
“All large bodies of water are going to have bacteria in them,” Bergeron said.
Within the city limits of Ashland, there are numerous streams, ponds and pools, which could all be potential breeding grounds for bacteria.
“Traditionally we have not done any testing on the ponds since there is no swimming in our ponds,” said Jason Counts, the City of Ashland’s parks and recreation director. “Many times throughout the day we electronically monitor the chlorine, pH, and sanitizer levels in our pool to maintain the safest water possible for our citizens.”
The good news is we’re not dealing with an airborne virus or something that you don’t have any control over. There are smart and simple ways to avoid contracting E. coli.
In the prevention process, a good place to start is at the supermarket. Many have probably heard about all the romaine lettuce that has been recalled because of a link to an E. coli outbreak.
Unfortunately, E. coli can’t be washed off of the lettuce, as it won’t kill the bacteria. The key is to know from where your lettuce and other veggies are coming.
The outbreak came from salad grown in Yuma, Arizona. When buying local produce, consumers will have a better understanding of the conditions of how it’s grown and any contamination will be localized. That doesn’t even count the economic benefits to the local economy when buying products from a neighbor.
The second major area of prevention deals with directly ingesting feces. If you’re swimming in a pool, pond or lake, like you’ve heard your whole life, don’t drink the water. Most of the time it’s no big deal, but mix babies or animals into the equation and it muddies the waters so to speak.
After hard rains, the runoff can carry bacteria into pools as well.
If you have open cuts or sores, it’s probably not a good idea to swim in a small lake that doesn’t have a lot of moving water.
“An important thing to remember is just as quickly as the numbers (of bacteria) can rise, than can just as quickly fall,” Bergeron said.
