Wednesday, Nov. 28, the City of Coos Bay’s Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 1 located at 680 Ivy Avenue experienced a high count of Fecal Coliform Bacteria. This was not discovered until this morning because the test takes 24 hours to yield results. Fecal Coliform are used as indicator organisms to test the effectiveness of effluent disinfection in a wastewater treatment plant. While these organisms are generally harmless to us, they do live under the same conditions that human pathogens live. Since we cannot test for every pathogen in the effluent, we test for easily detectable indicator organisms. The assumption is that if we kill the indicator organisms then we most likely kill the pathogens during effluent disinfection. The Plant has to meet effluent water quality limits that are identified in a permit that is issued to the city by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The Plant does not have daily fecal limits (only monthly), and this will not result in a permit exceedance; however, the city has elected to report this issue on a voluntary basis so that the public is informed and aware of the issue. The city reported this issue to the Oregon Emergency Response System (OERS) and DEQ. At this time, no reason for the high fecal count has been determined, all of the additional plant indicators are within normal ranges, and the city’s wastewater contract operator believes this is an isolated event. Additional samples have been taken; and when we discover the plant is discharging effluent with fecal coliform bacteria levels at lower ranges, the city will inform the public. Any questions can be directed to the City of Coos Bay Public Works Department at (541) 269-8918.
