Special Baker City public meeting on Cryptosporidium outbreak raises as many questions as it answers

[Editing essentially finished and added 1st video 11:45 AM, 8/9/13]

 I attended and filmed the special Baker City Public meeting on the Cryptosporidium outbreak tonight [8/8/13].  I came away with more questions than answers as to how Baker City is to proceed in dealing with the crypto problem.  I am going to make this short, certainly not an exhaustive account of what occurred, as downloading and processing the video takes quite a bit of time for an almost 3 hour meeting, and I need to review it. It will take additional time to produce any YouTube videos. So this will be a rather bare summary and outline, and just what I consider to be the most important points until I decide to go to sleep (which won't be long)--video and most analysis will come later. (This account is from notes taken and memory as I was trying to film the event, so I will correct any errors after I am able to review the video.)

Mayor Langrell opened and explained the nature of the meeting before turning it over to City manager Mike Kee who presented the agenda and provided a summary timeline that was similar to the information in his August 2, 2013 Weekly Update. He also provided the results of the Cryptosporidium tests that have occurred during the Crypto "crisis."
Here is the video of City Manager Kee's introduction. It is somewhat dim and grainy due to low light on Baker City High School auditorium stage but best video possible under the conditions and the audio is acceptable. Best watched on YouTube by clicking this link:
Crypto Meeting Intro, Baker City, OR 080713



Alicia Hills, from the Baker County Health Department, spoke about the 15 confirmed Crypto cases and the "About Cryptosporidiosis" flyer that has been made available to residents and visitors which lists recommendations and suggestions for staying safe during Baker City's Crypto crisis. You can find the flyer here.

Michelle Owens, Director of the Public Works Department talked about the need for water use curtailment, while reminding everyone that this is a great community to live in. ;-)

Heidi Dalton talked about the decision to keep the Sam-O-Swim pool facility closed because the risks of keeping it open were too high. They will do the usual September maintenance during the current closure period.

Bill Goss from the Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Program said that the outbreak was a naturally occurring event and that no one was to blame. He indicated that no one could predict when the no boil order would end as they will need tests results indicating that there are essentially zero Crypto oocysts in the water supply. He stated that an ongoing monitoring plan for Cryptosporidium will be instituted until a treatment facility is constructed that provides for 99.9% removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts, and that is must be in place by October of 2016. (The issue of why monitoring had not been continued after the initial round of testing ended in 2011 was brought up by citizens during the meeting.)

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Goss did not mention at this time that the state will be reviewing out treatment options which could result in the state imposing a treatment plan different from the 99.9 % effective UV treatment plan they had already recommended.

Michelle Owen talked about solutions to the Crypto problem that the city was looking at.  These included:

• Long-term plan for UV treatment of Cryptosporidium.
• Mid-term solution of finding or drilling additional supplementary water from wells (Wells are generally not be affected by Cryptosporidium.
• Short-term solutions that include boiling, and borrowing a portable non-validated membrane filter unit.

Brian Black from the HDR  engineering firm talked about the accelerated schedule for the UV treatment facility. The schedule was to include:

• Complete design and sighn-up contractor in early spring or earlier
• Begin construction in the summer of 2014
• Complete construction in summer of 2015

The accelerated schedule would bring in a 99.9% effective UV facility a year before the current deadline.

Mayor Langrell moderated a Q and A session with the audience but first discussed issues presented by some questions that had been submitted in writing by the audience. The ones he mentioned primarily had to do with whether the city [and its citizens], had a responsibility to compensate businesses that have suffered losses due to the present crisis.

Some citizens related the problems they had encountered while suffering from Crypto, and asked why the city had delayed moving forward with UV treatment when we were told as early as 2009 that treatment was required. One of these, Linda Wall of Baker City, also had members of the large audience raise their hands if they had been dealing with the symptoms of Cryptosporidiosis. She estimated that about 1/4 to 1/3 of those present raised their hands.

Former Councilor and Judge Milo Pope laid the responsibility for delay on Former Mayor and current Councilor Dennis Dorrah (who did not attend the meeting), Councilor Roger Coles, and other Councilors who had delayed providing treatment.

There were many more interesting public comments that I will try to post as a YouTube video later.

The bottom line, in terms of how we will move forward came when Councilor Coles gave a spirited rebuttal to Milo Pope's comments and then Mayor Langrell validated Councilor Coles comments that he couldn't see going forward at the time because DEQ might suddenly change the requirements in  the future, even though Mayor Langrell had spoken about the accelerated schedule for UV earlier.  I commented that I thought using that sort of speculation was a scare tactic and that given EPA approval of UV and current state direction there was no basis for it.  Then, perhaps in response to questioning on that point by Councilor Mosier (have to check the video),  Bill Goss from the State Health Authority said that a change in requirements was a possibility because the state was going to review the present outbreak and could possibly change their recommendation to the much more expensive $17M to $20M water filtration requirement and plant that costs over $300,000/year to maintain.

I pointed out that we had spent the meeting talking about installing UV treatment, that is what the state has told us we need to install, and that filtration would cost significantly more than UV to install and maintain. I misspoke the figures as being in millions rather that thousands, but the point was that maintenance costs are still something like 25 times greater for filtration than for UV treatment, according to the 2009 figures provided to the city by HDR.

When I asked him after the meeting about this announcement, after 80% of the meeting had been about the accelerated schedule for constructing the UV treatment plant, he told me that his announcement had been timely as the outbreak had only been going of for a few weeks, and he was there to talk about other things (i.e., the boil water order). We discussed a few other issues related to the state's review, but it is late so those will be discussed later, as will numerous comments by a very engaged audience.

Given the late announcement of a state review, which Mr. Goss said will take about two months (or possibly 6 month to a year), I am at a loss to understand how the earlier presentations about an accelerated schedule for the installation of a UV water treatment facility were allowed to be presented, how they can move forward or be accomplished, and I am beginning to understand why local governments do not trust regulatory bodies like the DEQ or the Oregon Health Authority.  How can Councilors or staff, left in limbo, commit resources to any solution, when the regulatory agencies reserve the right to waste the time and resources communities have committed by changing their mind--especially when such regulatory changes can bring financial ruin to many low income citizens and potentially even the to cities they live in?

One searches for answers as to why the the feds and the state would impose such confusion and uncertainty on the cities and towns they have been given authority over when there are adequately safe, rational, and affordable solutions to the problems being faced. I also wonder if it isn't becoming clear that many government workers, from the federal to the local level, including as well some of our other financially comfortable citizens, have not simply become completely insensitive to the world and needs of low income people. I heard the folks tonight (now last night) who told their stories of not having health insurance and not being able to afford to go to the doctor, and some of those who could go to the doctor, couldn't afford the medications they needed to treat the cryptosporidiosis they suffered from. With the new push to force selection of unaffordable water treatment options, it is not clear whether some state, county, and city officials care if low income people can afford the quest for guaranteed safety at any cost that some of the comfortable apparently seek, and which ultimately places burdens [I. e., increases in water/sewer rates] on the poor that they cannot bear. Perhaps the regulators, developers, realtors, newspaper peddlers, merchants, and the wealthy, see an opportunity in ridding themselves of poor people by making their towns into places where the poor can't afford to live any more. A kinder, gentler, saner solution would be for them to buy a membrane filtration unit for their home and save the rest of us the expense of providing them with an incredibly small extra margin of safety.

:-) Don't Saddle Me,

I'm Safe With UV!

Buy Your Own Damn Filter! ;-)

Sorry about that, I'm in the sleepless zone.

More videos in a future blog when I figure out how to free disk space.

Random Thoughts on the Baker City Crypto Outbreak

[Edited 8/3/13]

                           Goodrich Reservoir, Baker City Watershed

They say that hindsight would have been perfect foresight, or something like that, and my first chemistry teacher would always reprimand his students when they made a mistake by saying "In the future" la de da de da, hoping we would learn from our mistakes. I guess it doesn't always turn out that way in the real world.

As of today there were less than 10 confirmed cases of disease caused by Cryptosporidium (crypto) in Baker City, according to published reports. Most people I speak with know of at least a few people who have symptoms consistent with cryptosporidiosis who have not gone to the doctor for various reasons.  The main reasons, in my view, that they haven't sought treatment, is because the symptoms did not overwhelm them, and that going to the doctor can be expensive, especially for those with little or no health insurance. These anecdotal reports seem to indicate that the number of cases in Baker City is far higher than the number of reported cases, quite possibly in the hundreds. Hopefully, the state epidemiologists will at least conduct minimal studies with large enough sample sizes to extrapolate/estimate the number of people actually infected.

Yesterday I asked the State Health Authority to tell me whether the city was required to do additional testing after the initial 2-year round of testing, which showed positive for crypto, ended in 2012.  My reading of the requirements, as well as theirs, indicated that no more testing was required by the LT2 Rule until 6 years had passed.  Today, the city has confirmed that they have not been testing the water for crypto since the first round of testing ended and that they were not required to do so. (That was the question I asked them yesterday.)

Most folks I have spoken with indicate to me that continued testing would have been the sensible thing to do, given that we had positive tests for crypto in the watershed. That was my view too, but it didn't happen. The current events in Baker City seem to indicate a weakness in the EPA's monitoring requirements for crypto, and a lack of prudence by city officials in charge of protecting our water supply. Another suggested that given the previous positive tests, that in addition to monitoring in the absence of any effective treatment, no water from Goodrich should have been used in the municipal water supply before testing for pathogens, including crypto.  In hindsight, I certainly agree, even if Goodrich or Mountain Goats don't turn out to be the sources of the problem.

Another individual wondered why the city was spending the money to have an employee drive the test samples to Seattle and then pay for a motel while waiting for the results which they would then take back to Baker City. Why can't the city send them overnight via US Mail, UPS or Fed Ex? To the best of my knowledge, they haven't had to drive them up before.

I have previously complained to city officials and others about our city priorities which seem to continuously discount our needs for basic infrastructure in favor of so-called "economic development." The sentiment I'm hearing from those I speak with is that the city leaders thinks it is more important to win city beauty contests and spend money on putting Resort St. utilities underground, throwing money at the golf course and airport, and etc. (not to mention increased expenditures for aggressive policing and employee salaries and benefits), than it is to spend our tax dollars on water testing, and basic infrastructure, like water treatment, sewage treatment, water delivery systems, sewers, streets, and etc.  (If you look down Resort Street today, after the utilities have been put underground, it still looks like a bit of a wide alley.  If you first look at the price tag for putting the utilities underground, well, then it looks like a million bucks!)

Lonely Golfer on Our Golf  Course

Take the golf course for one example. With regard to all the subsidies that have historically gone to the golf course after the addition of the back nine holes, some Councilors reflect the conventional elite wisdom with statements like this:

Dennis Dorrah:

For my part the golf course is much like the swimming pool. It improves the quality of life of many of our citizens and I see it as a tool for drawing business to our community.

Clair Button, whose house backs up to the golf course:

Each house built because of the golf course contributes between 2000 - 6000 dollars in property taxes annually. Multiply that times the number of houses that have been built because of the growth the golf course has generated. The housing creation is ongoing. We want that growth to increase the tax base.  They pay to pave their own streets and provide sidewalks. Those people have the money to invest in business. They create jobs. They pay a large share of our water and sewer system upgrades. They spend money at local businesses, all of which keep our local economy moving.  The economic recycling of money is a well documented phenomenon. The entire community does benefit.

Miracle workers according to Clair. The two Councilors are not alone among city leaders, they just let their opinions be known. The truth is that the claims are not backed up by valid statistics or cost-benefit studies, and the city just spent over $150,000 to replace the sub-standard water tanks in the Scenic Vista development, overlooking the golf course, that were accepted by then City Manager Tim Collins on July 31, 2003.  Mr. Collins, an avid golfer, purchased property in the subdivision a few years later. The golf course has also made evident two classes of citizens--those who can drive their unlicensed vehicles (golf carts) all over town without harassment (golfers), and those who have to license their vehicles to drive them on our streets because they will be cited if they don't (the rest of us). They also take many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of potential drinking water for free to irrigate a little used facility that won't pay for itself.

Additionally, the state and federal government have given us millions to spend on rebuilding selected streets in recent years, when what we needed was money to move swiftly on water and sewage treatment.

But the important point is this:  Who is going to want to come to live in Baker City so as to enjoy the subsidized golf course and a few tidy new streets when our drinking water is contaminated with crypto because we spent our extra dollars on elite activities like the golf course, airport, and underground utilities for business people on Resort Street, instead of on necessities like water testing and treatment?

There are also questions about how rapidly information is getting out to neighboring towns and cities who have citizens who visit Baker City. An interesting situation was related to me by a friend this afternoon.  She had two elderly women visit last Monday from La Grande.  One was around 75 and the other was 105 years old (a very remarkable woman who was raised in the Baker City area). They drank lots of water. The younger of the two ended up in Grande Ronde Hospital a few days later with gastrointestinal pain, stomach upset, and diarrhea. She's on intravenous antibiotics. When my friend told the mother and the nurse about the crypto outbreak in Baker City, neither had even heard about it.

Now just in case you think I never have positive things to say to the city, the letter below is just one example of a positive response to their efforts. It is easy to stand back and be the critic when you are not involved in a situation, especially when it comes sort of natural and they don't want to hear what you have to say anyway. While I do think the EPA, the state, and the city need to reevaluate the LT2 rule with regard to the monitoring that should be required when crypto has already been discovered in a watershed prior to initiation of effective treatment, and that no one can be proud of previous crypto monitoring issues or the PR problems on Wednesday morning, I do think that Mike Kee and his staff have done a good job of thinking the current situation through, while marshaling state and other resources, in their response to the current problem. ('Course some may think their lax oversight may have had a hand in causing it.)

July 31, 2013 

Mike,

Just looked at the Herald and found the "City asks residents to reduce water use" article. Earlier today I mentioned to Jeanie that I thought the Goats might be contributors. The only reason I mentioned it was because I hiked from Marble Pass to Elkhorn (Goodrich) Peak a week ago. Goats are spread out along the rim from Marble Pass to Goodrich Res. and beyond. I only saw a polygamous "family" of five near the pass, but the sign, from tracks, to shedding hair, to scat pellets was everywhere, especially along the rim above Goodrich. I recalled the photos of the goats at the reservoir from earlier this year in a newsletter (???) and in any event, during this dry year, one suspects that the bowl around Goodrich and perhaps the waterline itself, is seeing a lot of goat scat deposits due to water seeking behavior.  Might be worth checking a few scat samples near the reservoir.

I am really, well, almost proud, and certainly grateful, that you and your staff have approached this outbreak in a logical manner, even if it doesn't turn out to be the goats. Everything that I read you are doing is delightfully sensible. The fact that you are looking at relevant factors and following the evidence is very encouraging.

Good luck in tracking it all down and trying to keep the water safe.

Chris
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