Blue Water Task Force
The Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) was established by the Surfrider Foundation in 1991 with the goals and hopes to gather enough data to raise public awareness, increase public participation, and influence national legislation.
In the summer of 2005, Bri Silbaugh initiated the Blue Water Task Force within the Northwest Straits Chapter. When BWTF began here in Bellingham, Surfrider tested for Enterococcus twice a week for the duration of the summer. The program died down briefly and then started back up again in May of 2006, when Katie Booth and Linda McGuiness revamped the BWTF to where it is today. Sampling now occurs once a month, analyzing samples for E. coli and fecal coliforms at five different sites in Bellingham: Larabee State Park (Wildcat Cove), Mud Bay, the mouth of Padden Creek, Little Squalicum Beach, and the Nooksack River Delta.
Currently, the Northwest Straits Chapter has several volunteer interns helping to collect samples each month. Some volunteers even take a lab training to participate in the laboratory preparation and analysis of samples. If interested in becoming involved, please email Eleanor Hines at nws@surfrider.org.
What we test for and why: Fecal coliforms are bacteria that are commonly found in warm-blooded animal feces. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a wide group of bacterial species that is categorized under the fecal coliforms group. Some strains can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, pneumonia and other illnesses, where other strains are used as a marker for water contamination. In the lab, we test for the presence of fecal coliforms in our samples and then conduct a further screening specifically for E. coli. The results then indicate the current status of water quality at each site. These tests can be extremely important as they can prevent illnesses and lead to the discovery of failing septic systems, such as found during testing in the summer of 2009. Thanks to water quality monitoring, the leaking septic system near Wildcat Cove was identified and fixed! Ongoing investigations are in progress to better track microbial sources in Wildcat Cove where swimming advisories are currently posted.
Education and Outreach: Larrabee State Park has been experiencing more high hits of fecal bacteria over the last several years. In an effort to help keep public access to Wildcat Cove open and safe, NWS Surfrider has teamed up with WA Ecology’s BEACH Program, Whatcom County Health Department, and Larrabee State Park to start an education and outreach program this summer. Please come stop by our Surfrider table at Larrabee State Park Friday through Sunday and learn about water quality and what you can do to help keep our watershed healthy! Also join us for Beach Walks at low tides on weekends and for Campfire talks with s’mores every Saturday at 7 PM at the pavilion by the park entrance!
Thanks! BWTF and the Northwest Straits Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation would like to thank Post Point for donating space within their laboratory for us to work! And we would like to thank all of our dedicated volunteers for their hard work, often waking up before the sun is up to collect samples before class!
For more information:
- Click here to see our water quality data.
- For a better understanding of what fecal coliform bacteria counts mean for water quality: http://www.oasisdesign.net/water/quality/coliform.htm