Private tests show possible e. coli violations at Otter Rock

By Joel Gallob

Of the News-Times

A member of the Surfriders Foundation, P.J. Collson, said this week that in monthly tests for e. coli bacteria in coastal waters, the Otter Rock area has shown occasional violations of state standards.
Collson said the tests started July 31, 1999 and have continued through the present, and were conducted for the Surfriders Foundation.
""We have found cases where the tests showed that the standard of 406 organisms per milliliter of water had been violated," Collson said Saturday at the annual meeting of the Oregon Surfriders chapter, held in Pacific City.
Collson said the state has two kinds of clean water standards relating to the bacteria. One standard is a monthly average of 126 e. coli organisms per 100 milliliters of water tested when multiple tests are done, and the other is the 406 organisms level.
"You never want more than 406 organisms per 100 milliliters of water," Collson said.
E. coli is an indicator species, he explained, for the presence of fecal matter in water, and of other possible bacteria in the water as well. The source of the fecal pollution can be inadequately treated human wastewater, or can be from marine mammals or seabirds. Devil's Punchbowl State Park is at Otter Rock, as well as protected marine gardens.
Collson said he has been doing one test per month at several sites from South Beach to Otter Rock, including South Beach, Nye Beach, Agate Beach, near Moolack Beach, and both the south side of Otter Rock and the marine gardens.
Collson said he has found problems at Nye Beach, also. His e. coli readings at that Newport site have been "up and down," he said. "One month it's clean, next month... it's over the standard mean level of 126, but that doesn't amount to a violation. Then it will be clean again, and then the next time I go there, it'll be over the 407 organisms level."
Bob Dicksa, a natural resources specialist with the Department of Environmental Quality, confirmed the numerical standards Collson specified, and Mark Hamlin, a water quality specialist with DEQ, confirmed that he had received a report from Collson indicating that four tests were "substantially in excess" of the 406 organisms standard.
"P.J. did send on his data to me, and it showed significant excesses of the bacteria," Hamlin said. "We're talking up to double the standard, for, I believe, four times. I forwarded it to our laboratory in Portland, and asked them to contact P.J.. Greg Pettit, the director there, has contacted P.J. and asked for further information. We've given a Co-Alert test kit to the watershed council there. We have not heard anything back yet, but we are taking it seriously."
"Since we're only doing the tests once a month," Collson added, "we can't say if the site has met the basic standard for the 126 organisms per 100 milliliters. But we can do enough of the tests to see if someplace violates the other standard. We are asking DEQ to augment our tests, to put some resources there at Otter Rock and create a more detailed record."
Lee Ritzman, Newport's city engineer, declined Tuesday to comment on the matter, and John Ritchie, manager for the city's wastewater treatment plant, which discharges its effluent to Nye Beach through an outfall at that location, was unavailable for comment.