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DIVING
INTO DANGER
The asphalt burns, the air is stifling and you wonder why Eugene doesn't shut down for siestas in the heat of the day. It's topped 100 degrees more than once recently, but we live in an area rich with lakes, streams and rivers perfect for cooling off. Unfortunatly, swimming in local spots can raise a few issues for your body. Itchy skin, E. coli and other pathogens, mercury and, of course, drowning are the main worries of local swimmers. Experts call the itchy skin swimmer's rash and can't pin it to one source, but most don't see it as a significant health risk. Experts at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Oregon Public Health warn against overeating some local fish due to high levels of mercury, but they say you won't absorb the metals through your skin. Bacteria and drowning, not heavy metals, should pose the main concern for swimmers. If you're willing to take a little risk, then take the plunge. A few rules of thumb can keep you out playing in the water. The first is easier said than done: Don't swallow the water. Second, avoid swimming after rain, especially if it caps off a dry spell. That's when pesticides, motor oil, dog feces and everything else sitting in the streets and fields runs into the waterways. Fortunately for swimmers, pollutant levels are lowest in the summer. Third, keep yourself and your canine friends out of turbid and discolored waters. Blue-green algae can cause stomach discomfort and even death. Fourth, position yourself upstream of bathing babies and animals, industry and agriculture. Still got the guts for a dip? EW has the rundown on local swimming holes.
The mighty (toxic) Willamette Much of the Willamette doesn't meet water quality standards, including the stretch that runs through Eugene, which exceeds DEQ standards for arsenic and mercury. Our treated sewage gets dumped into the river around Belt Line in the Santa Clara area. The Willamette also hosts multiple toxic mixing zones, where water quality standards are met at the edge of the unmarked zone, rather than at the end of the discharge pipe. Even though pollutants can exceed standards within the zone, the DEQ calls them safe for swimming, as the agency does not allow discharges in what they deem to be unsafe quantities. A permit exists for a mixing zone on the river near where Howard Avenue crosses River Road. Note that warm water counts as a toxin because it's bad for fish. Buford Park The sign posted by this stretch of the Willamette warns, "Not a designated swimming area. Deep water! Sometimes polluted! Swim at your own risk." But several of the dozen or so swimmers and sunbathers hanging out on a Thursday afternoon admitted that the sign didn't phase them. "We try and shut our mouths," said young Danika Hoglan, who wore goggles to submerge her head and search for interesting rocks on the bottom of the river with her friend Emilie Ormsby. "If you go to any body of water, including your bathtub, your toilet bowl or a lake, you'll find E. coli in it," says William Keene, senior epidemiologist for Oregon Public Health. Bacteria, including E. coli, comes from human, dog and other animal feces as well as from sewage. Although many strains of E. coli live in healthy people and animals, if you swallow water containing the wrong type of E. coli or some other pathogen, you could suffer from gastrointestinal distress. The DEQ uses E. coli as a marker for all kinds of fecal contamination. But the numbers from a single sample don't mean much, as bacteria levels change from day to day and hour to hour, making the danger at any particular swimming hole hard to pin. "The best measure of risk is the number of people in the water. The more people, the higher the risk," Keene says. Bacteria like E. coli cause harm through oral ingestion of fecal organisms from any kind of animal, including the human kind. "Most places where people go to recreate, usually livestock aren't present. The real risk generally comes from other people," he warns. Fall Creek At Fall Creek, near Lowell, you can enjoy swimming upstream of town. An aerial view of Fall Creek reveals forest and clear cuts, which means that pesticides from tree farming might contaminate the water here. As for the risks of pesticide runoff, the chemicals change so quickly that the EPA can't keep up with creating safety standards. Marty Fitzpatrick, DEQ toxicologist, says, "It takes a long time and a tremendous amount of studies to generate criteria." This leads to standards for pesticides no longer in use, like DDT, but not for those currently applied to fields and farms. Brice Creek Brice, 25 miles southeast of Cottage Grove, is likely to be one of the cleaner spots to swim. Sure there's some mercury here, which at this spot may even come from natural sources, but DEQ Basin Coordinator Jared Rubin explains: "As you get into the headwaters, we tend to have higher water quality."
McKenzie River has ups & downs.
Armitage Park Location, location, location! If you're bathing by Armitage Park, you're swimming next the to I-5 freeway and a couple of old hazardous waste sites. And quite a few people, too. Hendricks Bridge Head to this spot out the McKenzie Highway and you can worry less about surprise dunks that send water down the hatch. Recent testing shows relatively low levels of E. coli in this spot on the McKenzie. Moreover, only a couple of hazardous waste sites live upstream of Hendricks Bridge, as opposed to the dozens of sites dotting the Eugene-Springfield area that potentially send lead, battery acid and the like into rivers. Upper McKenzie Those who don't mind goosebumps can find sparkling clean swimming spots farther up the McKenzie at Leaburg Dam, Carmen Reservoir, Clear Lake and Fish Lake. Tamolitch is a spectacular but frigid pool on a remote section of the McKenzie River Trail — only for the stout of heart.
Reserve some caution for reservoirs. Standing water is often warmer than a river, and you do have reason to worry if it looks scummy. Blue-green algae can grow just about anywhere, from the Cascades to the coast, from a drainage ditch to a river. But the bacteria (they're not true algae) are most likely to appear in stagnant water bodies such as lakes and reservoirs, and most blooms occur in warmer weather. Skin contact with water hosting a toxic strain of blue-green algae could lead to rashes, while ingesting or inhaling the bacteria could cause vomiting, cramping and diarrhea. Although no people have died in Oregon from the bacteria, Dave Stone, a state public health toxicologist, believes that a series of dog deaths are related. Dorena Reservoir Dorena suffers from mercury contamination from metal mining (R-G 7/29). Stone says swimmers shouldn't worry about harm from absorbing diluted amounts of that metal or others through the skin, despite the risk of eating concentrated amounts of mercury in fish. "Mercury is a fish issue and arsenic is a groundwater issue," he explains. "The metals themselves will not cross the skin." Experts and the literature from the DEQ, EPA and Oregon Public Health echoed Stone's statements. Some researchers worry that skin contact with very high amounts of mercury and other metals can cause a rash-like effect, but Stone dismisses the idea that heavy metals are the source of some Oregon swimmers' red, itchy skin. "I think there are a variety of things that can cause itching. I think that's more biological than chemical." Fern Ridge Reservoir This murky water doesn't even look good, but it's close to town, and it cools you off. Cindy Thieman, Long Tom Watershed project and monitoring coordinator, hasn't heard of toxic strains of blue-green algae here and says bacteria hasn't been an issue in the summer. Keep in mind that Amazon Creek, which exceeds DEQ standards for toxins, empties into Fern Ridge. Two spots next to the reservoir are listed on DEQ's website as in need of cleanup, one for petroleum products and one for batteries leaking lead. Dexter Reservoir In 2002 the reservoir hosted blue-green algae blooms, which were discovered too late to post a warning. That need not keep you away this summer, but look out for scummy water.
So what are your choices? Public pools generally have fewer bacteria than other swim spots, thanks to the chlorine, but they lack the ambience of a swimming hole. Epidemiologist Keene likens kiddy pools to toilets, with everyone in the neighborhood taking a dip and leaving organisms behind. DEQ's Rubin doesn't think there's anything inherently dangerous about swimming in local rivers, other than the current. "I think each of us has to make our own decision about where we feel most comfortable," he says. But pressed on where he likes to swim, he admits: "I feel more comfortable swimming in alpine lakes, just because I know what can come off of urban and agriculture environments. We use a lot of things in an industrial society that can end up in the water."
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