Murphy boat ramp bacteria readings are ‘off the charts’

Murphy – MountainTrue West, a nonprofit organization that monitors and protects water quality in western North Carolina, is warning the public about unsafe water conditions at the Hiwassee Street boat ramp downtown.

MountainTrue’s western regional director, Callie Moore, said E. coli contamination at the boat ramp is “off the charts.” She believes the problem stems from people feeding ducks and Canada geese at the facility.

“You shouldn’t even wade there,” Moore said.

The waterfowl congregate at the boat ramp because they’ve learned they can count on handouts from people. The birds’ droppings results in higher E. coli bacteria readings in the water.

“E. coli normally lives in your intestines,” according to the Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit academic medical center based in Ohio and with clinics around the world. “Most strains are usually harmless. A few strains cause diarrhea/bloody diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pains and cramps. One strain can lead to kidney failure if not properly managed. Eating contaminated food is the most common way to get an E. coli infection. Most people recover within a week without medications.”

How far “off the charts” is the boat ramp? Test results are expressed as Most Probable Number (MPN) of E. coli CFU (colony forming units) per 100m. The Environmental Protection Agency sets the maximum level of E. coli contamination allowed for swimming at 126 CFU/100m.

Monthly data is collected by volunteers who are certified through MountainTrue’s Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program. Its July 5 sampling, the most recent available as of Monday, was 1,119.9 but reached 2,419 on June 28.

The boat ramp consistently ranks worst among the monitored waterways in the western region, but is not the only waterway in Cherokee County that MountainTrue is advising swimmers to avoid. Valley River in Andrews, G. Hargett River Access and Konehete Veterans Park also have swim advisories in place.

Moore has sought help from the Town of Murphy to prohibit feeding the birds at the boat ramp site. She believes the birds will stop congregating there if they aren’t being fed.

A complicating factor is that the boat ramp is under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the property. Town officials are researching ways to discourage bird feeding with signage, whether the sign is on TVA property with its permission or on town property nearby.

Moore said the birds don’t get the nutrition they need from the bread crumps, corn or food scraps they get at the boat ramp. The birds need the protein they would get from bugs and small fish.

“Bacterial contamination is purely a human health and recreation issue that doesn’t affect fish and other aquatic life,” Moore said, “but it often enters the stream along with other pollutants like excess sediment or excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, which can negatively impact stream ecology.”

MountainTrue champions clean waters, resilient forests, and healthy communities in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. With offices in Asheville, Boone, Hendersonville and Murphy, its service area includes 24 counties in western North Carolina, Carter and Johnson counties in eastern Tennessee, as well as Towns and Union counties in northern Georgia.

Aside from bird droppings, it has identified several chronic causes affecting water quality in the region, including poor agriculture practices, failing sewer and septic systems, poorly planned development and urban sprawl, and climate change. Every week from May to September, MountainTrue West staff, interns and volunteers monitor water quality at sites across the Hiwassee, Nottely and Valley river watersheds.

“We’re halfway through the Swim Guide weekly E. coli sampling program for the summer,” MountainTrue reported. “Eight locations in the Hiwassee basin (including all lake sites) and three sites in the Little Tennessee basin passed all seven tests. …

“Three locations in each river basin have failed all tests.”

Weekly results are posted on Fridays. A beach is marked Green when single sample results are under 126 E. coli /100 ML water. A beach is marked Red when the results are equal to or above 126 E. coli /100 ML water. A beach is marked Grey when there are no current results or no available information.

To see the guide, visit theswimguide.org/affiliates/mountaintrue-west.