Ecology officials outline S. Fork contamination

Pigeons in Spring Flat Creek channel

The South Fork of the Palouse River is still hot with fecal coliform bacteria, particularly in downtown Pullman and at the north end at Colfax, Department of Ecology officials told a crowd of citizens in Pullman Aug. 27.

Because of the high level of bacteria found in Colfax, DOE officials are currently narrowing down the source of the problem, but were reluctant to positively identify any sources just yet.

The dozens of pigeons that make their nests under bridges above Spring Flat Creek which flows into Colfax along Highway 195 from Pullman are one suspected cause, said DOE water quality manager Elaine Snouwaert. The pigeons reside under bridges which are located at Poplar, Mill, Main, and W. Cooper Streets. Spring Flat Creek joins the South Palouse just north of W. Cooper Street where the flood control channel bends to the north.

Farmers, political candidates, and citizens listened as they were informed the river is carrying more than the state limit of a bacteria found exclusively in animal and human feces.

“Yikes!,” said one listener as DOE Jim Carroll, environmental scientist, from the Eastern regional office, brought up a particularly strong slide of data.

Carroll said their sample-taking in downtown Pullman revealed two major problem points in the city – water coming in from Missouri Flat Creek which runs south along Highway 27, and Dry Fork Creek which runs through town partially under Grand Ave.

A plan to begin cleaning up the river is not yet set in stone, said DOE officials, but they did lay out some options they are considering.

Repairing faulty septic systems, requiring livestock farmers along the stream to practice best land management, reducing the contamination from storm drains, educating the public about pet waste and reducing the bacteria in feeder streams are all options they are considering, said Snouwaert.

The main danger is people playing in the river becoming sick with e-coli bacteria, one of several bacteria found in fecal coliform, or some other infection from the bacteria.

“Kids do use the river to play in. I saw a kid playing in it. There is primary contact here,” said Carroll.

One gram of human feces can hold 13 million bacteria cells, read one slide chart in the DOE’s power point presentation. The state limit of fecal coliform in any river is 100 colonies of bacteria per 100 milliliters of water, but the levels found this year from 2007 samples exceed 200 colonies.of bacteria.