E Coli in the Spring River

[Capt E]

Np Terry, yeah, I am talking specifically about the Spring River in SW MO. That is the one referenced in the Globe article. Both it and the North Fork of the Spring are out of limits for e-coli and phosphates. However the e-coli was described to me as 'off scale high'.

The other guys are completely right about the local officials acting as if this the the first they have heard of it, they respond that it's not all that bad and try to divert the attention toward immigrants bathing in the river or ag. They never seem to address the real issue.

I had a cousin hired by the city of Carthage to explore the cave under the city about 20 years ago. After he reported that there were a lot of older homes dumping sewage into the cave the project was promptly cancelled.

[gonefishin]

Seems to be some kind of a shotgun technique to me. No one knows for sure what the problem is so just start blasting the hell out of everything in site until the target is hit. Sure glad my DR doesn't practice that kind of medicine.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Seems to be some kind of a shotgun technique to me. No one knows for sure what the problem is so just start blasting the hell out of everything in site until the target is hit. Sure glad my DR doesn't practice that kind of medicine.

I don't believe any shotguns are being used here. It has been identified by those here as human and animal waste. Now if we could just get the officials to admit it too.

Don't think for a minute they are not in the know.

And as for phosphates a lot of crops are grown in Jasper and Barton counties. All are fertilized. And its not just a farming thing either. Many folks in town have their lawns fertilized also. Its all up stream in the water shed.

I'm not saying we are gonna stop it all. I think we just need to take the proper precautions and be good stewards of the land and waterways.

It's comical to read that some say its OK to have pollution but by golly you better make dang sure you C&R that fish, use a barbless hook, don't use powerbait...yadda..yadda..yadda.....

Just an observation, not finger pointing.

[gonefishin]

I don't believe any shotguns are being used here. It has been identified by those here as human and animal waste. Now if we could just get the officials to admit it too.

Don't think for a minute they are not in the know.

I don't doubt for a minute that officials arent in the know. It is just hard for me to think there is a big "don't tell about the Ecoli in the spring river" conspiracy.

And as for phosphates a lot of crops are grown in Jasper and Barton counties. All are fertilized. And its not just a farming thing either. Many folks in town have their lawns fertilized also. Its all up stream in the water shed.

I'm not saying we are gonna stop it all. I think we just need to take the proper precautions and be good stewards of the land and waterways.

Not as long as people want to eat it isn't going to stop.

I was raised on a farm. We had some cattle and hogs but mostly we raised crops. Farmers are business people and fertilizer is expensive, I don't know any farmer who spends more money on fertilizer than is needed. I have however seen people put more fertilizer on yard in one season than we would put on 40 acres in 5 years; so I have to agree that most yards are WAY over fertilized. The biggest part of the excessive fertilizer runs off when it rains. Most of the time these same people, who are over fertilizing their yards, are the ones pointing their fingers at the farmers.

It's comical to read that some say its OK to have pollution but by golly you better make dang sure you C&R that fish, use a barbless hook, don't use powerbait...yadda..yadda..yadda.....

Again, I have to agree with you on this one.

Just an observation, not finger pointing.

Same here. What I have said on this subject is simply observation.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I don't doubt for a minute that officials arent in the know. It is just hard for me to think there is a big "don't tell about the Ecoli in the spring river" conspiracy.

Well its not so much a "don't tell about the Ecoli in the Spring River" conspiracy, as it is a "if we pretend that we are not for sure where the source is, we won't have to make any new regulations to clean up our waterways and we can keep attracting these large operations and keep getting large amounts of money in the form of taxes and other unmentionables.

Right, not as long as we want to eat cheap. I can go both ways on this subject.

Thanks on the other two points also. It may not look like it but, I'm not here to fight with anyone but to offer a different point of view and foster thought and comments on a varity of subjects that can affect all us.

[Rusty]

The newest update.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_172233753.html

[gonefishin]

Hopefully they will find out where it is coming from and address the problem soon.

[Rusty]

I have a feeling they know where it is coming from. They just figure we are not edgeukated enough to figure it out on our own. And if we do, they will say it is coming from upstream somewhere.

[gonefishin]

They may know exactly where it is coming from, but I don't have any idea. I am over 100 miles from the area but, I do have a good friend who lives on the Spring and I like to go down there and fish with him so, I am interested in seeing the problem corrected.

I would ten times rather see the real problem addressed than see them fix 20 phantom problems, spend millions of tax payer dollars doing so and never get the real problem addressed. Kinda hard to fix something if it isn't known what is broke.

[Bill Anderson]

Well yeah but, I mean is it from people, cows, horses....come to think of it there is a lot of fish crap in the water too. Anyway I was just wondering what the major source is.

......You can bet it's all of the above. I would bet that everyone with a house along the river is using a septic tank, too. The runoff from septic tanks is always a major source of E Coli.