Greenwire: Extensive tests have revealed that water in parts of California’s high Sierra were contaminated and making people sick, but no water was worse than that on U.S. Forest Service land. Bacterial contamination was so high that algae was sprouting in the water and hikers were getting hit with Giardia, E. coli and other diseases.
Robert Derlet spent 10 years studying the water and is now calling on the Forest Service to do something about its quality. He and University of California, Davis, Tahoe Research Center director Charles Goldman say cattle should be moved to lower elevations. The livestock waste accounted for much of the contamination. Their results have been published in various periodicals, including Wilderness & Environmental Medicine.
“This proves cattle are contaminating the water,” said John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center. “I guarantee you many people don’t realize that snowmelt water, that looks so pure, has fecal coliform and E. coli in it.”
Derlet and Goldman say the land where cattle currently grazes should be made into a protected national park. Both Yosemite and Sequoia national parks were created partly because of damage from grazing sheep, which stirred up dust and made similar damage to water quality.
In Derlet’s studies, he found that unvisited streams and lakes were almost always safe for drinking. Contamination from sunscreen, soap and human waste also contributed to the pollution, as did wild animals, horses and mules. But the contamination was always worst near horses and cattle.
But an official with the Forest Service said the livestock are not responsible because there is vegetation that filters fecal matter before it reaches the water (Tom Knudson, Sacramento Bee, April 25). – JP