Fecal Coliform

Frustrated by a beach closing that has entered its second month, state officials are planning a study to determine the cause of high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in the waters off Gunpowder Falls State Park. Representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources will meet with experts in the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the state Department of the Environment to try to avoid a prolonged closing next summer at the park's Hammerman Area riverfront beach, said John Surrick, a DNR spokesman.

Fallston Funeral held for soldier killed in Iraq In a brief, somber funeral Monday, family and friends gathered to remember Staff Sgt. William A. Allers III, a soldier who grew up in Fallston and was killed in Iraq last month when his Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb. Family members wept as they watched images chronicling Allers' life flash on a screen above his flag-draped casket at Mountain Christian Church in Fallston. Allers, 28, was a month away from returning from Iraq, where he was serving as a member of the Kentucky National Guard and had taken part in more than two dozen battles with insurgents, according to Guard officials.

Eastern Shore watermen got more bad news about water quality yesterday, as high bacteria levels forced state officials to expand an area of Pocomoke Sound that is off limits to the harvesting of oysters and clams.The restriction, effective Sept. 1, closely follows the state's unrelated six-day closure of the lower Pocomoke River this month, when thousands of fish were killed, in part, because of a microorganism called Pfiesteria piscicida in the water.In yesterday's action, the Department of the Environment ordered a halt to shellfish harvesting in the Pocomoke Sound after routine water sampling showed unsafe levels of fecal coliform -- contamination that state officials blamed on wildlife and other natural sources.

North Harford Middle School's use of bottled water was extended yesterday for at least 24 hours after bacterial contamination was detected again in the water supply. The sample from the Pylesville school's mechanical room tested positive for total coliform, but not fecal coliform, the reason the water was shut off in August. Pupils and members of the faculty and staff have been using bottled water and temporary hand-washing stations since the school year began. A note to parents on North Harford's Web site said it is not uncommon for a faucet to become contaminated with bacteria between tests.

Phone line gives water quality dataThe county's health department has a phone line residents can call to acquire weekly water sample results as measured by fecal coliform.The number, 222-7999, may be called 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The information offered includes the emergency closing of creeks or portions of creeks; the averaged weekly results for 78 stations routinely sampled by the health department for fecal coliform; and a list of phone numbers that can assist residents in reporting a variety of water quality problems.

An Anne Arundel Community College scientist and the county Health Department may hold the key to solving the high levels of bacteriathat plague the Severn River every summer.Sally Hornor, a biologist at the college's Environmental Center, has proposed a two-year investigation into the source of fecal coliform bacteria in the 23-mile-long river and its tributaries.If the health department approves, Hornor said, she wants to begin the study in March.The county Health Department may pay for the $27,940 study, Health Officer ThomasAndrews told the Severn River Association on Tuesday night.

The water quality hot line for citizens will remain operable throughLabor Day, Sept. 2. The phone line will resume next year during Memorial Day weekend when the monitoring program will resume.The Health Department samples water from area rivers and streams from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Fecal coliform is the indicator used to identify potential health hazards.Human waste can transmit diseases like polio and hepatitis. It can cause ailments such as earaches and diarrhea.Since fecal coliform comes from all warm-blooded animals, the presence of this bacteriadoes not necessarily indicate a public health threat.

Residents can gain easy access to weekly water quality reports on the county's creeks through a county Health Department telephone service.The service, established last year, was reactivated May 25. It provides residents with the number of fecal coliforms measured in specific creeks. The information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 222-7999.Fecal coliform is a bacteria found in the intestines of all warm-blooded animals. Because of its prevalence and because it is easy to detect, it is used as one measure of water quality.

222-7999 -- is available to check recreational water quality and theweekly water sample results for fecal coliform from the Health Department.Information may be retrieved 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and includes the emergency closing of creeks or portions of creeks caused by sewage spills. It also includes the average weekly results for the 66 stations routinely sampled by the Health Department anda list of phone numbers that can assist citizens in reporting a variety of water quality problems.

No funding available for Severn River testingA $2,900 project to identify the source of bacteria in the Severn River has been postoned because of insufficient funds.County scientist Sally Hornor, who coordinates water quality testing of the Severn River each summer, had planned to begin a second such program, Operation Clearwater II.Ms. Hornor is beginning her fourth year with Operation Clearwater, the Severn River Association's 19-year-old swim-water testing program.The association approved the new program March 16, but Ms. Hornor has not been able to obtain funding for the research.

Like he does most days, Cindy Allred's sixth-grade son came home from school one afternoon last week, tossed a school flier on the table and talked about his day. The bathrooms were dirty, Allred recalled her son saying, and the kids had been told of a problem with the water. Then she read the flier. "DRINKING WATER WARNING," read the first line of the fluorescent-red flier. "North Harford Middle School water is contaminated with fecal coliform or E. coli. BOIL YOUR WATER BEFORE USING."

Bacteria from sewage are at more than 2,000 times healthy levels in tributaries to Baltimore County's Back River, according to a new report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. But they are much lower and dropping at Sandy Point beach near Annapolis. The school's first major report on the Chesapeake Bay examined pollution levels to try to determine what impact they have on the health of the 16 million people who live in the bay's watershed. The authors, who studied numerous waterways in the Chesapeake region, didn't find any immediate threats to the public health.

It was a sweltering Saturday afternoon, and they were laughing and talking, just three boys cooling off in the Jones Falls. Hidden from Falls Road by a cluster of trees and a steep, rocky incline, Chris Williams, 13, and Thomas Cherry, 14, had waded in and were watching Dante Jefferson, 18, swim in water so murky he couldn't even see his feet. Jefferson said he suddenly felt himself being pulled under by the force of the current. He saw Chris and Thomas going under, too. Only Jefferson could swim.

Baltimore's top health official classified a sewage leak in North Baltimore's Stony Run as "modest" yesterday and said his department is taking measures to notify the public. A drainpipe under University Parkway in Wyman Park has been leaking sewage into the creek sporadically since early spring, city officials acknowledged. The rate of flow was measured at 10 gallons per minute yesterday morning. Although that's small compared to other spills in the city, the sewage water pours into an area about 50 yards from where children frequently swim.

CUMBERLAND - As the late-afternoon sun sinks toward the mountains, 16-year-old Brent Sorrells pauses on his trek home through downtown to show off his catch for the day. It is a jar full of minnows, to be used as bait for hooking bigger fry. Just a stone's throw from where the lanky youth netted his fish, milky green water with a septic smell oozes from a concrete tunnel into the North Branch of the Potomac River. Whenever a hard rain falls - and this year has brought dozens of downpours - the tunnel spews a torrent of water contaminated with raw sewage into the river.

Frustrated by a beach closing that has entered its second month, state officials are planning a study to determine the cause of high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in the waters off Gunpowder Falls State Park. Representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources will meet with experts in the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the state Department of the Environment to try to avoid a prolonged closing next summer at the park's Hammerman Area riverfront beach, said John Surrick, a DNR spokesman.

Good news for humankind: We're not entirely to blame for Chesapeake Bay pollution. So says Virginia Tech biologist George M. Simmons, a former Antarctic explorer who now roams the tidal creeks of his state's Eastern Shore armed with a pooper scooper.Simmons' surprising conclusion: Humans aren't always the source of the fecal coliform bacteria that contaminates some bay waters, forcing Maryland and Virginia officials to close thousands of acres of clam and oyster beds each year. Neither are geese and ducks, which often get blamed for fouling creeks and ponds.

North Harford Middle School's use of bottled water was extended yesterday for at least 24 hours after bacterial contamination was detected again in the water supply. The sample from the Pylesville school's mechanical room tested positive for total coliform, but not fecal coliform, the reason the water was shut off in August. Pupils and members of the faculty and staff have been using bottled water and temporary hand-washing stations since the school year began. A note to parents on North Harford's Web site said it is not uncommon for a faucet to become contaminated with bacteria between tests.

In Baltimore County Doctor agrees to pay $40,000 to resolve Medicare allegations CATONSVILLE - A Catonsville physician has agreed to pay federal health officials $40,000 to resolve allegations that he violated Medicare requirements from 1994 to 1996 when billing for patient services. Dr. Kenneth H. Williams, an internist with offices in the 500 block of N. Rolling Road, agreed to the settlement after a former employee alleged that he submitted claims for Medicare reimbursement for services performed by medical residents without the level of physician supervision required by federal regulations.

In Baltimore County St. Joseph officials expect to resume normal water use TOWSON - Officials at St. Joseph Medical Center anticipate the hospital will resume normal use of its water today after they treated it against the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, a hospital spokeswoman said. The hospital's water supplies were flushed with chlorine yesterday to kill remaining Legionella bacteria, said Linda Harder, a hospital spokeswoman. Elevated levels of the bacteria were found early last week in the hospital's hot-water supply.