1980 Spring survey for coliforms at Bryce Canyon National Park

Doyle, Georgia

This year samples were collected from each of the creeks and springs accessible from the Under-the-Rim Trail and tested for coliforms. Coliforms are an indicator organism, so their presence does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe to drink. If there is a high amount of coliforms there may well be a high amount of pathogenic organisms in the water. There are two types of coliforms, soil and fecal. Soil coliforms are not harmful when consumed and fecal coliforms are harmful, possibly resulting in diarrhea. Both result from surface contamination and are usually abundant where there are a lot of people or wildlife. The purpose of this exercise is to determine if the water in the backcountry is safe to drink or does it need to be purified. I stopped at creeks and springs and collected a water sample just as the water was flowing over a rock so it was freshly aerated. I wrote the site location and time sample was collected on baggie, as the sample must be tested no more than 30 hours after it is collected. I refrigerated the samples while waiting to do the test. We have the equipment to test for coliform in the basement of the park headquarters. The Lodge tests water daily. The samples incubated 24 hours. I counted the number of metallic dots per disc either with the naked eye or with the aid of the dissecting microscope. Four metallic discs were the maximum allowable number for the water to be considered safe. All of the samples collected had some type of bacteria in them except for water taken directly from the Yovimpa Pumphouse. The number of coliforms greatly exceeded four in most of the samples. This was to be expected as the test does not differentiate between fecal and soil coliforms and there will be bacteria in water that runs over open ground. The high coliform count does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe, but may mean harmful organisms are present. Recommendations include 1) stress water purification to hikers while issuing backcountry permits (boil, iodine), 2) give hikers handout about Waste disposal at Bryce Canyon National Park as part of issuing permits, 3) send samples to lab in Salt Lake City to determine if fecal coliform, 4) determine where contamination is occurring and if campsite location has an effect on water source.

1980 Spring survey for coliforms at Bryce Canyon National Park

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