As Sycamore Pool gets ready to reopen for summer, local health officials say repeated testing has found no sign of the dangerous E. coli 0157 strain that sent several children to the hospital after swimming in Big Chico Creek last year.
NSPR's Ken Devol spoke with Butte County Public Health Officer Jarett Beaudoin, who says he's cautiously optimistic the bacteria won't return this summer.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Why do you think the risk of another E. coli O157 outbreak is lower this year?
Why would I say that I feel kind of confident? Well, we have these two tests. We tested back in May — and the tests were negative —and then we just tested again on June 8 because we were nervous that, okay, maybe these initial cooler waters kind of wouldn't have it, and we kind of waited for it to warm up a little bit. And so we did test again. Those results are still pending.
You can also just look at these outbreaks across the country. Usually they pop up once, and then they kind of don't pop up the second year. But now there is a question, too, of, is the creek clearer this year? So last year there was all this sediment that had come down from the Park Fire. That sediment was rich in nutrients, things that probably the E coli loved. There's less of that sediment this year. So that's also a little bit reassuring.
So I would say I feel good, but everyone should still be hesitant. And really everyone should be still practicing almost the same way. They shouldn't be drinking creek water, like ever. And then everyone who's in the creek should probably wash their hands before they eat food, and they should probably shower.
There was some confusion between agencies during the initial outbreak. Has that been sorted out?
I think we've all learned a lot about each other's roles because there's kind of three players here.
There is the City of Chico, and there is the Water Board — The Central Valley Water Board — which is kind of the Central Valley's branch of the larger state water board, and then there's us in Public Health. We in Public Health, we're concerned about kind of active disease outbreaks. The Water Board looks at waterways like Big Chico Creek on a long-term basis. They look at the creeks, it's health on a basis of like months to years, but they're not necessarily the ones that will be the ones testing and saying it is safe for people to swim in the creek today.
And that's where the City of Chico really comes in. They do kind of general E coli testing. That general E coli testing is really meant to educate people of Chico and Butte County about whether they should be swimming right at that time. That kind of really as needed testing that really impacts the day to day decisions on whether to put up signs or not.
The City is really the front line on testing and monitoring, while Public Health and the Water Board play more of a supporting role?
Right. Because honestly it's really kind of a gray area for inland body of water. If you go out to the beaches of Southern California, Northern California, the saltwater beaches, those beaches are highly regulated. And cities and counties, they get money to actually test and regulate those waters. There's clear testing criteria that they have to go through.
Creeks and lakes in the Central Valley, and anywhere inland, there is no regulatory requirement for anyone to actually do the testing. Now, the City of Chico, they obviously want to encourage people to swim. Big Chico Creek is a great place to swim. They want to support people, they want to provide these nice things like picnic tables, and maybe even lifeguards. So, to try to reassure people, and to try to make sure that people are safe, they're kind of doing this kind of above and beyond thing, which is a kind of testing for E coli.
Will there be more testing throughout the year?
So this is a great, great, great point of confusion for people. Big Chico Creek doesn't have E. coli 0157, but the City of Chico is testing for E coli, and they're finding levels of E coli. So, what is that discrepancy?
The vast majority of E coli are actually safe. They don't actually cause any disease, but we use those kind of general E coli as a sign, a warning sign that maybe creeks might hold more things in it, more viruses, other bacteria, parasites, and we can kind of follow the levels of general E coli, and if they go up, we expect all those other bad things to go up. And this is kind of how the EPA on a federal level recommends cities and counties kind of test these waterways. So we're kind of following this national protocol.
So to answer your question about testing, we probably won't test for 0157 anymore unless we start seeing cases from the health department, but the City of Chico will be testing just generally E. coli on a weekly basis to help inform people who are swimming whether or not it's kind of risky for them to swim.
Any last things you think people should know?
The City of Chico is going to be putting up signs, and these signs are going to indicate these levels of general E. coli. In the past, those signs may have not been used as frequently. This year, they're making a really good effort of making sure those signs are clearly visible.
So, if you and your children, or you just yourself, want to go swimming at Sycamore Pool, and you get out there, you can see if one of those signs is up or not. And if the sign is up, you can maybe decide, you know, maybe I don't want to put my two year old in Sycamore pool today because the bacterial levels are high, Maybe myself because if you are immunosuppressed, or if you're someone who gets sick easy, maybe you have cancer, maybe you decide, oh, I don't want to swim now, because this sign is up saying that there's higher levels of bacteria.
And then certainly if we find any cases of 0157, or really any cases of any other bacteria that could cause severe harm to people, Butte County will kind of insert itself and let people know as soon as possible, and then post kind of no swimming signs.
I do think that people are going to be surprised because those signs saying that general E. coli are elevated in Sycamore Pool are going to be more visible, and they're going to be more present this year more than probably any year prior. And so I think people should realize that, and people are going to be talking, and people are going to say the E. coli levels are high, and I think that's what we expect.
