Fecal Coliform Bacteria Event, June 29

News release City of Coos Bay.  Last Friday, the City of Coos Bay’s Wastewater Treatment Plant #2 located at 100 Fulton Avenue experienced a high count of Fecal Coliform Bacteria.  Fecal Coliform is 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 City reported this issue to the appropriate state agencies and published a public service announcement. The City’s wastewater contractor continued to make plant adjustments all weekend and as of Monday, June 26th, the plant was back to operating within normal parameters, which included having a Fecal Coliform Bacteria count that met the plant’s permit requirements.  The City’s wastewater contractor has s specialist currently assessing this issue.  At this time, no reason for the high Fecal Count has been determined, however an investigation is ongoing to help prevent this issue in the future. As you may know, the City is currently under construction of a new treatment plant that will replace the existing plant at 100 Fulton Avenue.  The new plant will have greater capacity and newer wastewater technology as it relates to process and disinfection.  The new plant will be located at the northeast corner of Fulton Avenue and Empire Boulevard.  Any questions can be directed to the City of Coos Bay Public Works Department at (541) 269-8918.