All swim: The truth about E.coli and Crystal Lake

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Manchester Health Department monitors local swimming holes and posts weekly water quality results.

MANCHESTER, NH – Go jump in the lake! That’s the word from the city health department Thursday morning, after testing on July 19 determined that the level of Escherichia coli – aka E. coli – present has subsided and is within the “safe zone.”

And before you ask, “How can any level of E. coli be safe?,” hear what Public Health Director Tim Soucy has to say about it.

“Every healthy human being and animal has E. coli in their GI tract. The E. coli we look for is an indicator organism; it tells us that other pathogens might be present, like salmonella, shigella, campylobacter,” Soucy says. “The E. coli we’re testing for is not E. coli 0157, which is associated with undercooked hamburger.”

Crystal Lake often tests high during the summer swimming months at the public beach for a compilation of reasons, Soucy says.

“There are a number of factors we believe are responsible, bather load for one – the more people in the water, the more likelihood of E. coli. We’ve also heard stories of children in diapers, dogs in the water, we’ve seen dog droppings on the beach and dog prints, and there’s an abundance of ducks and geese, which contributes to the problem as well. Part of the problem is people feed the ducks, so they just get used to being there.”

It’s also exacerbated by heat.

“There’s not a lot of turnover, as in the lake isn’t spring fed or anything like that,” Soucy says.

Should someone inadvertently go for a dip in a body of water where E. coli levels are elevated, what is the fall out?

“You likely won’t experience any symptoms or ill effect,” says Soucy. 

Although Crystal Lake seems to get a bad rap for its frequent closures, Soucy says the good news is that the city is able to carefully monitor all the local swimming holes with weekly water testing. As happened this week, closing the beach for a day or two allows nature to adjust itself and return the water to “normal,” which in this case means 88 E. coli per 100 milliliters of water.

Despite what the public may perceive about Crystal Lake and chronic elevated E. coli, the city wouldn’t consider shutting it down permanently from public use.

“We  take pride in the fact that we’re able to do weekly water samples. We get real time data to make decisions, and we like that we have the ability to monitor the city’s swimming locations on a weekly basis and make decisions as we go,” Soucy says. “You’re going to find  E. coli in the water no matter what. You won’t ever see zero readings, so when you see a spike you know there’s a point-source pollutant that we have to figure out, and that’s what we do.” 

In addition to water testing, the health department is also regularly doing mosquito trapping to keep tabs on the hazard of bug-borne diseases including West Nile and Triple E, which can have negative health implications.

“So far so good on that front,” Soucy says. “We’ll keep trapping until October, or until the first couple of hard freezes. We’ve already gone around and posted precautionary reminders at Little League fields about using bug spray and being careful at night,” Soucy says.

 

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!