Talk of the Town - Whitley County

(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Scott Wagner, far right, of the Whitley County Board of Health, and county commissioners look at a detailed map showing locations Wagner plans to test for E. coli. From left is Tom Rethlake, Jim Pettigrew, Michael Schrader and Wagner. The commissioners approved funding Tuesday to determine E. coli levels at eight sites near Loon Lake in northern Whitley County.

Below, the small waterway flowing from Old Lake into Loon Lake, visible in the distance, was the first site where testing revealed high levels of E. coli.

By Jennifer Zartman Romano

Something just didn’t smell right. It didn’t look right either. Brown, bubbling water couldn’t bode well for the water’s quality. Toward the end of summer, residents along Brown Road at Loon Lake began to notice that a small stream of water that flows between Old Lake and Loon Lake seemed to have problems.

The issue was brought before the Whitley County Commissioners Tuesday. The matter was tabled at the last meeting.

Shortly after residents became concerned about what appeared to be a problem with the water, Jane Loomis of the Hoosier Riverwatch Program completed water quality testing in several of the small waterways going in and out of Loon Lake. While most of the areas tested fell within the safe limits for the presence of bacteria, the small tributary connecting Loon Lake and Old Lake was found to be contaminated with E. coli at more than 2000 colony forming units (CFU) per 100 ml sampled. The standard for recreational (full-body) contact is 235 cfu per 100 ml. Testing at Old Lake found that the E. coli level there was well over 20,000 cfu per ml and swimming in the lake was banned, according to reports.

Subsequent testing as recently as January 31 by the Whitley County Board of Health again revealed continued high levels of E. coli in the water. According to Scott Wagner of the Whitley County Board of Health, the most recent test at the Loon Lake waterway site indicated levels around 1000 cfu.

Word spread fast around the Loon Lake community where swimming and contact with water is one of the many reasons people choose to live near the water. Unfortunately, bodily contact with contaminated water is one of several ways E. coli can cause illness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are an estimated 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year attributed to E. coli. The CDC also states that infection with E. coli often leads to bloody diarrhea and occasionally to kidney failure.

The CDC’s website further states, “In some persons, particularly children under 5 years of age and the elderly, the infection can also cause a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), in which the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail. About 8% of persons whose diarrheal illness is severe enough that they seek medical care develop this complication. In the United States, HUS is the principle cause of acute kidney failure in children, and most cases of HUS are caused by E. coli.”

In addition to the obvious health concerns, at a lake where residents are genuinely concerned with water quality and have invested thousands of dollars in lake enhancement, a sanitary sewer system and other means of protecting the environment, many became concerned about the source of the bacteria and the effect the water quality might have on the community.

Working with the Whitley County Board of Health, several residents of the Loon Lake community attended the Whitley County Commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday to address their concerns and ask for funding to conduct additionally, more wide scale testing in hopes of determining a source of the bacteria.

Loon Lake resident Donna Jones spoke to the commissioners sharing her concerns as a resident and as someone who has been active in local water quality and environmental concerns. Jones serves on the Upper Tippecanoe River Lake Association (UTRLA), Tippecanoe Environmental Lake and Watershed Foundation (TELWF) and the Loon Lake Property Owners Association (LLPOA) board of directors.

“We’re at the headwaters that flows down,” Jones said. “It’s going to flow out of Loon Lake.”

“We need to resolve the issue to determine why it’s flowing into Loon Lake,” Jones said. “I imagine it’s also flowing into Old Lake.” Jones said she’s received a lot of e-mail from others in the community voicing their concerns about the issue.

Commissioner Tom Rethlake, a resident of Old Lake, removed himself from the decision-making process due to what he perceived as a potential conflict of interest.

Wagner addressed the commissioners and said that he has personally driven and walked around in that area and done some visual assessing to see if he could determine some obvious causes for the high level of E. coli. Wagner said dye testing could be done on one neighboring property on CR 350 West that has a septic system. Wagner suggested testing eight sites in hopes of narrowing down the source of the E. coli.

“It will cost $181 to do all eight tests once,” Wagner said.

“Depending on what we get as far as results, then I’ll investigate those areas further,” he continued. “Then I can start excluding locations and focusing on ones that are hot.”

Eventually, Wagner said he might be able to perform additional testing that would determine whether the contamination is human or animal in nature – something that is not yet clear.

“I think we’ve got to find out the source of it so we can get this resolved,” said Commissioner Michael Shrader during the meeting.

The commissioners unanimously approved funding of the testing, which Wagner expects to begin conducting soon.