LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — A report just released by the U.S. Geological Survey department gives clear answers to questions about the cause of elevated E. coli levels at Lake of the Ozarks State Park beaches. State Representative Rocky Miller (District 124) says that’s good news, because all three of the problems indicated in the report have already been addressed.
The report outlines three specific causes of elevated E. coli levels:
- Geese and other waterfowl—specifically their droppings along the shoreline
- Septic and sewer systems connected to nearby buildings near the coves
- Sediment (rocks and sand) along the beach
Click here to see the full report.
In recent years, Public Beach #2 has sat empty for many weeks of the tourist season, because of a Missouri Department of Natural Resources policy. The report notes that PB2 in 2009 was closed for 18 percent of the 17-week recreational season. In 2010, it was closed for 13 percent of the season, and in 2011, it was closed for 39 percent of the season.
In the USGS report’s conclusion is a statement that suggests many of those beach closures might have been in vain:
“…more than one-third of daily samples collected on weekends were false negatives (MDNR weekly sample did not exceed the single sample standard but a USGS sample on one or more days that week did). These results along with other studies and the variation of E. coli concentrations measured at GGB on single days during this study indicate that fecal bacteria concentrations at public swimming beaches vary by orders of magnitude not only day-by-day but also within a given day making weekly forecasting potentially problematic and inaccurate.”
Miller says that claim gives validation to a law, which he spearheaded, that changed the way the DNR responds to elevated E. coli levels in regular water testing. Before House Bill 28 became law in 2013, the department’s policy was to close beaches if any individual test showed high E. coli levels.
Miller says the old policy was flawed. “Those beaches were not closed at the right time… not closed when there was a problem,” he said. He says the new system of posting a notification at the beach that informs swimmers of elevated levels—but that leaves the beach open—acknowledges the reality that “this is an open body of water, in nature, and these are the things you need to watch out for,” he noted.
Solutions
#1: Annoying the geese
The geese, Miller says, “have been convinced to relocate.” That has been accomplished through the use of several tactics. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has tried using noisy pyrotechnics to scare the geese away and coyote silhouettes to ward them off. But those tactics only saw limited results, says Jim Braithwait of MDC. At a “goose roundup” in June of 2012, MDC relocated dozens of geese who had tried to make their home at PB2. But last year, the roundup was not feasible, since the geese were not at the beach while they were molting (which is the only time they can be caught, because they can’t fly, Braithwait explained).
The final solution has come in the form of lasers. Braithwait describes them as akin to laser pointers used by classroom instructors. These lasers are green and red, he says, and the geese will not tolerate them. The geese quickly leave the area when the lasers—which Braithwait says do not harm the birds—are activated.
Braithwait also noted geese can be hunted in that area, in season, but as there are some residences around, that option has not been as popular. He also said the current efforts to discourage goose populations will have to continue indefinitely: just because a goose is annoyed at PB2 on Thursday does not mean it won’t return on Friday.
#2: Septic to sewer
Dye testing showed clearly that, whenever it rained, a septic system connected to a maintenance workshop owned by the state Parks Department was leaching into a nearby tributary. That tributary feeds into the cove at Public Beach #2. “For the next several weeks, dye was detected in the west tributary and at several locations within GGB cove, including the beach itself,” the report stated.
“The area that had septic tanks… some of them were open-vault pits… Those were not good!” Miller emphasized.
But that was in 2011. Since then, the City of Osage Beach along with the Parks Department have taken steps to mitigate those problems. “Those were all… put on the central sewer,” Miller explained.
According to Osage Beach Public Works Director Nick Edelman, the city in 2012 extended sewer infrastructure to the area to help pump out some of those old tanks and connect the Parks Department buildings to the central sewer system.
Edelman says the Parks Department paid for the infrastructure to be installed, and Osage Beach is now responsible for maintaining it. City water service was run to the area at the same time.
The report does not discuss that sewer line extension.
The report also pointed to “evidence of leakage” in a local sewage treatment system at Public Beach #1 that it says could be hydrologically connected to the beach. But that connection was not certain, and Miller pointed out that testing for PB1 typically showed no E. coli issues.
#3: Well-groomed beaches
Miller notes that among the results, the most surprising was the high E. coli levels found outside the water: in the sediment.
The report indicates that the size of beachfront sediments has an effect on the length of time E. coli can remain in the ground. “E. coli have been determined to survive longer in finer sediments,” it stated, citing multiple studies. In one instance, a residence near PB2 had a septic tank removed, and E. coli was still found in the surrounding soil two years later.
Part of the problem at PB2, according to the study, was the method of “beach grooming” being used. “Historical beach grooming practices tended to bury fecal matter, protecting fecal organisms from sunlight and drying and possibly prolonging their survival,” the report indicated.
But, “by sheer happenstance,” Miller says, the parks department has already changed the way it tends the beach. “They’ve got some new [beach] grating procedures that should help with that,” he said. Those procedures help ensure goose droppings aren’t buried.
“We’re being proactive,” Miller said. “This [report] comes out today, and we’ve already taken care of the problem, for the most part.”
He added, “This is the most tested lake in Missouri… the average E. coli is like three colony forming units per hundred milligrams, which is less than any lake they drink out of around here. So it’s a clean, healthy lake.”
