It’s safe to go back into the water at Taghum Beach but officials still don’t know what caused a massive spike in fecal coliform bacteria at the popular beach.
Was it a child? A flock of geese? A passing boat dumping its sewage? Interior Health says they’ll never know what caused the jump in bacteria because testing is both expensive and difficult.
It would take sustained high-level fecal coliform counts to warrant an investigation into the water quality at Taghum Beach. Photo source: shawn-i-am, Flickr, Creative Commons.
The beach was closed after the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) tested the water and found a fecal coliform result of 400 counts per 100 millilitres. The RDCK notified Interior Health who carried out their own tests to confirm the results. That test found 2,000 counts per 100 ml.
According to health authority documents, when a sample exceeds 200 counts per 100 ml they notify the public.
Tracking source difficult
Paul Geisler is the environmental health officer for Interior Health and he monitors water quality across the region. He says tracking the source of the bacteria is difficult.
Taghum Beach is on the Kootenay River, so the water is always flowing and conditions are different throughout the day and more so from day to day. There’s no guarantee subsequent water samples would lead health officials to the source, Geisler says.
“We could spend lots of money to find out if the [bacteria] was animal or human ion origin but we spend our money on other programs instead,” Geisler says.
It’s only if there are persistent high readings that Interior Health would look into the cause. A one-off like July’s reading doesn’t warrant the effort.
The RDCK removed the swimming advisory from Taghum Beach on Thursday, July 29, six days after the advisory was first posted on Friday, July 23.
Nelson’s sewage treatment plant not source
The City of Nelson’s sewage treatment plant – 3.5 kilometres upstream – wasn’t the cause, Geisler says. He contacted the treatment plant and was told they didn’t have any discharges into the river.
Subsequent tests of water from the beach showed the fecal coliform counts had returned to safe levels, says Brian Nickurak, utility services manager for the RDCK.
Exposure to fecal coliform bacteria can cause illness, rashes and infections in the skin, eye, ear, nose and throat.
The latest test, the one that cleared the water as it were, came up with a five count per 100 ml.
“We’re happy to have everything back to acceptable limits for Interior Health and people can enjoy the beach again,” Nickaruk says.
Warmer temperatures, more bacteria
Geisler says the cause will likely never be known. Interior Health and the RDCK have stepped up their water quality monitoring over the past few years and Geisler says it could just be that the bacteria counts often went high but nobody was monitoring it at the time.
He’s also noticed a pattern in the bacteria counts. When the temperatures go up and more people hit the beach, the bacteria counts go up as well.