Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
During the meeting of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, March 24, the commissioners heard a presentation by Bill Gibson, Environmental Health Manager with the Florida Department of Health. Recently, the Department of Health had testing performed on the waters of the Withlacoochee River in order to try and determine the source of any fecal matter found in the water.
In order to accomplish this, methods of testing called microbial source tracking (MST) were used. MST methods are “intended to discriminate between sources (human, ruminant, birds, etc.) of fecal contamination in water supplies.” In other words, this kind of testing can help determine who, or what, pooped in the river. According to Gibson's presentation, “identifying the source of fecal bacteria is an essential step in evaluating the health risks to humans from exposure to contaminated waters and to prioritize restoration activities.”
The testing performed on behalf of the Department of Health was designed to distinguish between several molecular markers representing several species: HF183 (human), Gull2 (seagulls, coastal birds and waterfowl), GFD (Gull, Canada goose, duck and chicken), BacR (ruminants: cattle, goats, deer, sheep) and DG3 (canine: dog).
Samples were taken on Wednesday, Jan. 6, from three different locations along the Withlacoochee River; at Highway 145, at Highway 150 and at Highway 6. The results of the testing showed the highest concentration of waste from all three locations was that of ruminants. That is cattle, goats, deer and sheep. The next highest was from Gull2 (seagulls, coastal birds and waterfowl). The next highest concentration was from canines (dogs). The second from the lowest were the GFD (Gulls, Canada geese, ducks and chickens). The lowest, with comparatively little detected at all three locations was human.
Results of these tests will be shared with the law firm that has been retained to explore legal options with the State of Georgia and, more specifically, the City of Valdosta.
The next meeting of the Board of Madison County Commissioners is set to take place on Wednesday, April 14, at 9 a.m. The meeting will take place in the Courthouse Annex, located at 229 SW Pinckney St., in Madison.