Fairhope, Alabama thefairhopetimes.blogspot.com
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| Aloi, Orcutt addressing council. |
OTHER SOURCES INDICATED
Cody Aloi of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program presented the results of an experimental program that included using specially-trained dogs to find possible sewage spills in Fly Creek's watershed: they did find four instances of the e-coli fecal bacteria, but no evidence it was of human origins.
Traditional source tracking lab studies are very costly, so the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) has come up with an experimental new method: Cody Aloi in partnership with X & O Consulting's Paul Orcutt are using specially-trained police dogs to help locate possible sewage leaks.
(In 2011, Auburn biology professor Dr. Yuchneg Feng cited three possible sources for the bacteria: human, bovine, and bird -- and proposed DNA testing for confirmation; but that was never done due to its high cost - click.)
Of 12 EPA laboratory tests of samples taken at various spots in the creek earlier this year, 5 were"non viable" due to laboratory testing errors; but there were four locations where high bacteria levels were found but none were of human origins according to further testing.
The dogs trained to detect human sewage only did not alert to any of the samples, he said.
NEXT STEPS UP TO COUNCIL
MBNEP director Jason Kudulis said the program should be continued because a "bigger data set is needed to confirm the results ... and remove possible errors."
Councilman Burrell said he thought the preliminary results vindicated the city's longtime position that bacteria detected in the creek is not necessarily coming from the city's wastewater system; mayor Sullivan liked the "faster results" the dogs provided --versus conventional laboratory testing.
The city council will have to determine if it wants to continue providing funding for the pilot canine wastewater detection program in its annual donation to the MBNEP ($65K last year).
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| Creek Sites tested. |
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| Next steps. |