Livestock Pollute Shenandoah River

Livestock Pollute Shenandoah River

Figure 1: Shenandoah River

For my second blog post I wanted to inform you about the recent pollution of the Shenandoah River. Many recent reports have mentioned the startling level of Escherichia. Coli (E. coli) being found in the Shenandoah River. The E. coli bacteria comes from the fecal matter of livestock, whether they were in the water or the fecal matter got washed into the river with storm runoff. In an article by Sarah Rankin mentions that a new report finds that Virginia is failing to manage the waste of millions of chickens and cows (Rankin 2017). The waste from these animals contains the E. coli bacteria that is being washed into the Shenandoah River. While the E. coli is the main worry of many people another problem that comes from the livestock fecal matter that ends up in the river. This issue is the increased amount of phosphorous in the water, which can lead to excessive plant growth in algae. First I will go into the problems with E. coli in the water, as it is not only an environmental hazard but a human health hazard as well.

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Figure 2: E. coli bacteria

 

Escherichia coli, which is abbreviated as E. coli, are bacteria found in the intestines of people and animals. While most varieties of E. coli are harmless and even helpful for healthy digestion in the human intestinal tract. Despite this there are several types of E. coli that are pathogenic, these E. coli varieties cause illnesses which are either diarrhea or illnesses outside of the digestive tract. There are a few ways that E. coli can be transmitted, mainly by contact with animals or other people and contaminated food or water. There are six types of E. coli that are associated with diarrhea, these and other pathogenic E. coli are categorized as pathotypes. The fecal matter that has been either dropped into the Shenandoah River or has been run into the river during heavy rain contains pathogenic E. coli. This means that whenever people go into the Shenandoah River they run the risk of ingesting trace amounts of the livestock fecal matter that can be found within the river. Which in turn means that they may be ingesting the pathogenic E. coli bacteria. While symptoms of E. coli ingestion may vary the symptoms usually include diarrhea and vomiting, there may be a fever but if there is it generally tends to be less than 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Generally, a person effected by E. coli will get better within 5 to seven days, and while some infections can be very mild others are very severe or even life threatening. While anyone can be affected by E. coli young children, the elderly and people who already have a weakened immune system have a higher chance of developing a more severe illness (E. coli 2017).

Figure 3: Algal Bloom and Red Tide

The second problem caused by is an algal bloom, though this does not seem like it would be harmful to humans in some cases algal blooms can cause illness in humans and animals. Algal blooms are caused by access nutrients in the water, the algae can grow and divide exponentially, using up all the nutrients in the water. After using up the nutrients in the water the algae start to die, the dead algae then begin to decompose. The decomposition of the large volume of algae completely depletes the oxygen supply within the body of water. This creates dead zones where there is little or no oxygen in the water. As the name suggests nothing can live within these dead zones, there will be no fish, aquatic invertebrates or plants within the dead zones, they basically become underwater deserts. As I stated before some algal blooms can cause illnesses in humans and other animals, this is due to the production of toxins. Some algal blooms, called Harmful algal blooms (HABs) produce toxins that when either ingested or inhaled can cause serious illnesses (Harmful 2017).

Both environmental issues are taking place within the Shenandoah River, due to lack of monitoring of farmland within the Shenandoah Valley. According to an article by Megan Mathewson only 12.5 percent of the farmland within the Shenandoah Valley are required to have pollution control plans (Mathewson 2017). This means that the remaining 87.5 percent of the Shenandoah Valley farmlands are left unmonitored. This results in the overgrowth of algae, lower fish populations and the spread of E. coli bacteria. In Jacob Fenston’s article he references a study where samples were taken from a section of the Shenandoah River and tested for E. coli, a clear majority of the samples exceeded levels considered safe for E. coli (Fenston 2017). In his article, Darryl Fears mentions data from 2014 to 2016 which states that the poultry and cattle along the Shenandoah river produce more than a billion combined pounds of waste a year that runs into the river (Fears 2017). This waste increases both the amount of E. coli in the water and the number of algae in the water.

I know you may be wondering why you should care about pollution in the Shenandoah River, the main reason is that it is a human cause issue. By letting livestock get near the river farmers are increasing the likelihood of their livestock’s fecal matter getting into the stream, even though the pollution is completely unintentional. By making it mandatory for farmers to check the amount of nutrients in their soil we may be able to decrease the amount of nutrient pollution enters the water which will cut back on algal blooms and may even help with the E. coli in the water if farmers keep their livestock farther from the water.

 

Citations:

E. coli (Escherichia coli). 2017. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. <https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html> Accessed 27 Apr 2017.

Fears, D. 2017. Shenandoah River: Livestock making mess of idyllic valley. The Washington      Post. Gatehouse Media. <http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/news/20170427/shenandoah-river-livestock-making-mess-of-idyllic-valley> Accessed 27 Apr 2017.

Fenston, J. A. 2017. Report Says Shenandoah River Fouled by Livestock. WAMU. American      University. <http://wamu.org/story/17/04/26/report-says-shenandoah-river-fouled-livestock/> Accessed 27 Apr 2017

Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB)-Associated Illness. 2017. Centers for Disease Control and   Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. <https://www.cdc.gov/habs/> Accessed 27 Apr 2017.

Mathewson, M. 2017. Report: Unsafe Levels of Fecal Bacteria in Shenandoah River. NBC 29.     NBC 29. <http://www.nbc29.com/story/35256225/report-unsafe-levels-of-fecal-bacteria-in-shenandoah-river> Accessed 27 Apr 2017.

Rankin, S. 2017. Correction: Shenandoah River-Pollution story. abc NEWS. abc NEWS.             <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/report-cows-chickens-taint-shenandoah-river-coli-47042522> Accessed 27 April 2017

Images:

1.      http://vogeltalksrving.com/2015/09/shenandoah-river-state-park-the-mountains-are-calling

 

2.      http://www.popsci.com/scientists-design-genome-for-upgraded-e-coli/

3.   https://www.cdc.gov/habs/