Cincinnati Post Publication date: 05-11-00

Students find signs of health in river
By Andrew Conte, Post staff reporter


It hardly takes an advanced degree, high-priced laboratory or a lifetime on the water to
assess the Little Miami River's environmental health. 

Just ask 14-year-old Geoff Jackson. 

The seventh-grader joined classmates from Norwood Middle School this week, collecting water
samples and seining with crude nets attached to wooden sticks for macro-invertebrates. The
more dragonfly larvae, water pennies and other tiny creatures in the water, the better.

''It could be cleaner and we could find more invertebrates,'' Geoff said. ''It's still pretty
clean, but it could be cleaner.''

A two-year Ohio Environmental Protection Agency study has found nearly similar results,
researchers said. The Little Miami is certainly cleaner than two decades ago, but it remains
on the cusp of becoming unsafe again for fish, wildlife and possibly humans.

The main culprits: wastewater treatment plants, agricultural runoff and suburban development
in the watershed.

During the driest summer months, as much as 70 percent of the river comes from wastewater
treatment plants. People could not canoe on the waterway in the summer if not for the treated
sewage flowing down stream, scientists said.

And that water likely contains substances varying from caffeine to cocaine that get ingested
by humans, passed through their bodies, flushed down the toilet and ultimately released from
sewage treatment plants into the river.

These chemicals apparently pose little risk to humans, but may be more damaging to wildlife,
said researchers who have studied the phenomenon in other similar waterways.

Scientists at the OEPA and the University of Cincinnati have long wondered about the potential
problem and have wanted to test the Little Miami for human drugs and hormones, said Michael
Miller, a UC professor. But the tests are expensive and the funding does not exist.

Therefore, no one really knows what chemicals, if any, are flowing along with the river,
Miller said. But studies at other similar waterways steeped in treated sewage have
consistently shown pharmaceuticals in the water - and in some instances, serious effects 
on wildlife.

''We were able to find (the drugs and hormones) everywhere we looked near water treatment
plants,'' said John Giesy, a Michigan State University researcher who has studied wastewater
in numerous U.S. rivers.

Giesy has found heart medicines, anti-depressants, heroine and other drugs in rivers
downstream from water treatment plants.

The drugs probably are not affecting humans, who mainly ingest only treated drinking water
with no more than trace amounts of any particular chemical, he said. But they could be more
dangerous for fish and wildlife that live in the water and are exposed to potentially higher
concentrations.

Scientists have found male fish with female eggs and organs in other rivers with high
concentrations of wastewater - apparently the victims of too much estrogen in the water.
About half the estrogen comes from natural sources in women's bodies; the rest from birth
control pills and post-menopausal treatments, Giesy said.

''Are we using the whole environment as a chemical reactor?'' he asked. ''No one knows -
we're just starting to study it.''

Still, that represents only a portion of the Little Miami's potential problems. Stressed out
by a combination of low oxygen levels, nutrients and industrial solvents in the water, fish
have developed stunted fins, lesions and tumors.

The nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen threaten to choke the river by reducing dissolved
oxygen levels. Both can come from wastewater treatment plants and farms that line the river
banks, said Bob Miltner, an OEPA researcher.

Urban runoff, meanwhile, adds other pollutants with rainwater washing over dirty parking lots
and rooftops into the river. 

Most of the Little Miami's watershed lies to the east of the river, which has historically
had little development. But continued suburban growth there threatens to increase the waste
running into the waterway.

To Geoff Jackson and his classmates, the river's long-term health now ranks among their top
concerns, although many of them had never been on the Little Miami before the field trip.
The young teens waded into the cold, swift waterway near Fort Ancient at Morgan's Canoe and
Outdoor Centers, which hosts school trips almost daily.

The students splashed, laughed and eagerly searched for signs of the river's health. They
huddled around the seining nets to lift up the tiny macro-invertebrates for study. The group
caught dozens of the little animals, but not nearly as many as they had hoped.

That they exist in the river at all means the water remains clean, said Gary Morgan, who
runs the school science pro grams through his recreation company.

''If there is an effluence problem here, the indicator species would not be here,'' Morgan
said. ''They're tiny, little invertebrates and they're so susceptible to different chemicals
and toxins.''

Other teens clad in goggles and latex gloves collected water samples in plastic vials. With
a mini laboratory kit, they tested for phosphorus, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, Ph levels and
turbidity. All tested at relatively good levels.

Standing on a rocky bank surrounded by eager students in life-preservers, teacher Stephanie
Prasek helped the students make sense of their findings. They have been learning about the
river and pollution in science class, and now many talk excitedly about the river and vow to
keep it clean.

''They realize what needs to be in (the river),'' said Ms. Prasek as the students prepared
to raft down the Little Miami, ''and what doesn't need to be in it.''