LITTLE ROCK — State environmental regulators have yet to find traces of dye in tributaries of the Buffalo National River as part of a test to find the source of high levels of E. coli in the river.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality released dye in the Marble Falls sewer plant early this week to determine whether the sewer system is causing elevated bacteria levels.
The department will continue to monitor for traces of dye for an undetermined time.
“We haven’t set an endpoint yet, but we’ll continue at least through next week,” said Ryan Benefield, department deputy director. “Then, [we’ll] evaluate if it still could be leaking where we put the dye.”
The Marble Falls Sewer Improvement District is made up of residents who took over ownership of a system that was built for the failed Dogpatch USA theme park.
The state sued the district in February to force it to stop raw sewage from flowing from a broken pump station into Mill Creek, a Buffalo River tributary. A borrowed pump stopped the flow from the station days before the suit was filed, but subsequent findings of E. coli in the tributaries have the state considering asking for intervention ahead of a trial set for Sept. 21.
The court could order that water be shut off to the small community in northern Newton County.
Benefield said if dye is found in Dogpatch Springs or Mill Creek, the state may request a hearing before Sept. 21. But it’s possible that it would take so long for the dye to reach the sampling stations that a hearing couldn’t be scheduled before the trial date, he said.
Two types of dye were poured into the district’s two pump stations, and samples have been collected on the hour since about 6 p.m. Monday, said Cecillea Pond-Mayo,spokesman for the Environmental Quality Department.
This weekend, the rate of collection will be reduced to once every four hours, Benefield said.
Periodic spikes in E. coli levels in the tributaries prompted Buffalo National River officials to put up warning signs along a segment of the river, from its confluence with Mill Creek to a quartermile south of Crow’s Hole, near Pruitt. The spikes have Buffalo National River officials concerned about the state’s handling of the situation.
“They’ve been vague, and it’s been frustrating,” said Kevin Cheri, superintendent of the Buffalo National River.
Cheri said his staff hasn’t been given enough information about the environmental department’s plan for testing and assurances of their ability to conduct the tests inhouse.
“We would like to know more about the specifics of how they’re doing it to be able to say they’ve used some science to determine the condition they’ll eventually announce,” he said.
As a precaution, park staff members placed charcoal packets at various locations along the river to determine separately whether the dye is reaching the river, said Barbara Wilson, chief of fire and resource management.
Wilson said there are many factors that go into performing accurate tests, which is why the national river hired an expert to perform its test in October.
The October test, which was focused on the leaking pump station, found that it took a little more than a day for the dye to reach the river, according to a news release issued in December.
Cheri said the fact that dye released Monday hasn’t shown up yet doesn’t mean the system is not leaking.There are many areas where sewage could collect underground, only to be released during a heavy rain, he said.
“It’s a Swiss cheese of topography, and we just need to know they’re taking all these things into consideration,” he said.
Benefield said staff members in charge of the tests are experienced and aware that there could be pockets where sewage collects. The sewer district has been making improvements, which have helped, but no amount of repairs can bring the system into compliance, he said.
The district is seeking state and federal assistance to fund a proposed $900,000 system replacement.
One indication that the system is in better shape is that the dye released Monday did move from the pump stations to the plant itself, Benefield said. Previous investigations found that the pump stations leaked so much that sewage wasn’t reaching the treatment plant.
Even if the dye from the test doesn’t show up in the tributaries, the source of the E. coli must be found and corrected, Benefield said. The high levels of bacteria that are showing up indicate a manmade source, he said.
Wilson said she agrees. The bacteria are showing up in levels that can’t be attributed to agriculture or wildlife, she said.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 07/31/2010