Chattahoochee Riverkeepers protect Columbus water for the long haul. Inside their process

Despite the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper organization existing for 30 years, with roots in Atlanta, the nonprofit that serves as a watchdog for river pollution only began consistently monitoring in the Columbus area in the last few years.

Thanks to an expanding staff, a new water quality lab partnership at Columbus State University and tips from locals concerned about water quality, the riverkeepers are showing up more often to test water in the river and creeks. The Columbus staff tests water quality, and dedicated volunteers and CRK directors grab samples throughout the region. For the last six months, the directors have been going out on the river to take water samples on the Chattahoochee.

But what are they looking for on the Columbus stretch of the Chattahoochee? How frequently do the riverkeepers go out? What is the water sampling process like and where do the results end up?

The Ledger-Enquirer took a ride Wednesday with CRK Executive Director Jason Ulseth on his custom-made river sampling boat and two other riverkeeper staff to find out.

On a warm, muggy summer morning, Ulseth brought his boat down from Atlanta to gather samples near the Phenix City water treatment plant outfall. Vanisha Estrahota, Columbus technical programs fellow, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper deputy director Henry Jacobs departed from the dock at Rotary Park. They went a mile south toward Phenix City, Alabama’s water treatment plant.

After just five minutes of boating, and swiftly passing old docks and herring birds, the smell made it clear where the outfall was. The water levels were high, covering the treatment center outfall pipe that Ulseth would normally sample from directly. Instead, they gathered a sample as close as they could.

They test all things that indicate healthy water parameters, including pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and turbidity. Ulseth stuck a $35,000 black wand that gave instant results of the several million gallon-per-day sewage. Immediately near the outfall, tree leaves are brown and appear half alive covered in dry sewage and old wet wipes.

The team chose this spot Wednesday because they have had consistent issues with the Phenix City water treatment plant spewing out too much E. coli, which is harmful to human health. If consumed, it can lead to serious illness. Not only can it travel through fish, according to the riverkeepers, but it also is an indication of other pathogens.

According to the samples that Technical Program Director Ashley Desensi took in early June, the plant was discharging 17,000 MPN.

These levels are “through the roof,” Ulseth said.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that water used for recreation have no more than 126/100 CFU ML of E. coli, on average over multiple samples and days. The Alabama Department of Environment’s daily maximum is 298/100 MPN, which is another measure of water contamination that is comparable to CFU.

“Two years ago we sampled from that discharge, and it was clean,” Jacobs said. “We didn’t have a reason to come back, probably for another six months to a year and we received reports from fishermen.”

John Spraggins, Phenix City utilities director, blames current million-dollar repairs to update the infrastructure. He said in early June that the high levels of E.coli should cease within 45 days .

“We have to come in here and in some cases do litigation because the ADEM and Phenix City aren’t doing their job,” Ulseth said as he strapped on gloves to grab a piece of trash out of a tree near the outfall.

“A lot of cases that we see in Georgia, and I’m sure happens in Alabama, where the agency is understaffed, doesn’t have the resources to lay eyes on all these facilities,” Ulseth explained. “So what realistically needs to happen is you have physical inspectors that are physically laying eyes on these plants several times a year. Right now it could be once every five or 10 years, it’s just when they have time.”

Documenting the entire sample-gathering process creates tangible data, critical to support a case if the riverkeepers ever take legal action over the water quality.

After Ulseth used his fancy tool to detect healthy parameters, Estrahota put on gloves, grabbed a plastic baggy–no different than something to put a sandwich in–and scooped water near the outfall. She immediately tied it with a zip tie, marked it with a black marker and put it on ice in a cooler.

The team zipped another 2 miles down the river to the Columbus Water Works water treatment plant outfall, where all of the sewage from the homes and businesses is treated and put into the Chattahoochee River.

This time there was no smell, but rather, bubbles that came to the surface of the water and a small sign on the river bank that said it was the treatment water, indicating the boat was in the right spot.

“All of Columbus Water Works pipes are underground at the bottom of the river, not from the banks,” Jacobs said.

Ulseth said Columbus Water Works complies with state and federal levels of E.coli, according to the samples the Riverkeeper has taken near the bubbles, so the team didn’t take a sample Wednesday. However the Columbus Water Works outfall has had higher levels of phosphorus, which can be harmful to kidneys . Technically the levels that Columbus Water Works reaches are within Georgia Environmental Protection Division limits, so Ulseth hopes to see what he calls “outdated technologies” updated in permits.

“Now there are treatment plants that basically eliminate phosphorus in their district,” Ulseth said. “This Columbus plant is discharging a lot of phosphorus nutrients (more than most wastewater treatment plants in Georgia) where we do see impacts in Lake Eufala of invasive plants like hydrilla .”

Before the boat returned to the dock, the crew visited the downtown Columbus area to search for any smells or, water leaks, but managed to only find White Water Express raft paddles stuck in the banks.

Is White Water Express safe from all of these issues?

Generally, yes. Atlanta has had issues with sewage, and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sent a 60-day-notice to sue the city for the first time since 1995.

“If you have one day of bad water in the Chattahoochee, that’s not a violation,” Ulseth said. “You have three more samples within that month showing that the average exceeds the standard.”

But Ulseth said that any sewage issue in Atlanta doesn’t affect Columbus waters, it affects West Point Lake more.

“Sewage and stormwater that come into the river, having people contact, coming in contact with that at an acute level here on their paddle trip or their kayak river fishing trip, yeah, and that’s the real danger. By the time it gets to here, we don’t see the bacteria impact,” he said.

Columbus’ biggest impact is from its own combined sewer overflow system and thunderstorms.

“When you get a big rainstorm, the river becomes less healthy and clean from the combined sewer overflow system,” Jacobs said. “The Columbus stretch is clean the majority of the time but we want it to be clean every single day, 24/7, throughout the year. This river is an amazing resources. It’s amazing to see what the community has done and the development that come with it.”

After a boat ride to the Waveshaper Island area it was time to dock the boat and head back to the lab

To the lab!

The sample that Estrahota took near the outfall from Phenix City needed to be processed within 18 to 24 hours for the most optimal results.

After the sample spent 15 minutes in a car and got carried into LeNoir Hall at Columbus State University, it was time to process it.

Estrahota put on gloves and hand sanitizer before transferring the sample to a plastic jar, and began swirling it around and creating a water tornado to accelerate the growing process of the bacteria.

Estrahota, a biology graduate from CSU enthusiastically took just 2 milliliters of the sample and adds it into a tray of 48 square and circular bubble shapes. This is her second year in this role. She started as a fellow immediately after graduating.

She takes the tray of samples into a tray sealer to vacuum seal it, dodging other interns in the busy lab.

From there, she walks it over to an incubator where the bacteria is warmed at 35 degrees Celsius and cooks for 18 to 22 hours.

Estrahota told the Ledger-Enquirer how shocked she was to see people playing in creeks in Columbus that have high levels of fecal coliform (which can come from duck poop or another animal, E. coli from human fecal matter).

“If the fish consume it we also consume it,” she said. “A lot of people in Columbus don’t necessarily know or even understand that information is readily available to them to understand these levels in the creeks that they’re swimming in. Some of the creeks that we sample in, they’re testing almost at max levels at some points during the summer for high fecal coliform and high E.coli. People let their dogs drink that water, kids playing in this water, eating fish out the water.”

Results wouldn’t be ready for 18 to 22 hours afterward, so the riverkeeper team took an old sample from Weracoba Creek to reveal what it looks like after it’s incubated.

They put the sample under a fluorescent black light. Before doing so, it was already clear that some of the squares were yellow.

Yellow indicates total coliform, the riverkeepers both said, and the fluoresced squares are E.coli.

The sample lit up with nearly all of the squares fluorescing blue.

“It should be no higher than 126 CFU for E. coli, and this sample is 605 CFU,” Jacobs said.

The riverkeepers notified Columbus Water Works to investigate sewage pipes near where they took the sample at Lakebottom’s Weracoba. Then they add the data they find to their live website called Swim Guide where anyone can see the data that they update weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

On July 11, the riverkeepers shared the results from the sample at the outfall, which was lower than it had been during the June 6 sample:

“The July 10 results did not reveal high bacteria, but recreators should be aware of the heightened risk of harmful bacteria exposure downstream of the plant,” the riverkeepers said. “Exercise caution on the river from the plant’s outfall near State Docks Road in Alabama to the headwaters of Lake Eufaula. Avoid fully submerging underwater, wash your hands after contacting the water, and take particular caution with young children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised.”