STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Samples of the Big Wood River show E. coli numbers below the seasonal normal when viewed historically.
Howard Shell, an implementation coordinator with the Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday afternoon that samples taken on the Big Wood River on Thursday, May 18, revealed E. coli levels well below compliance levels as specified in the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act for primary and secondary contact recreation.
Wood River Valley residents have been concerned about the amount of E. coli that might be in flood waters that forced residents to evacuate the Board Ranch west of Ketchum, Gimlet Lane and other parts of Gimlet south of Ketchum, the Della Vista neighborhood in Hailey and along Broadford Road in Bellevue.
But samples taken at the West Glendale road bridge showed numbers of 11 and 9 when it came to “most probable number of bacteria per 100 milliliters.” Samples taken at the confluence of the East Fork Big Wood River at the railroad bridge produced 3 MPN/100mL.
The acceptable level of E. coli when it comes to protecting human health at beaches should not exceed 88 per 100 milliliters. Recreational waters that are not beaches should not have more than 406 E. coli per 100 milliliters.
“That’s very good news,” said Carol Brown, public information officer for the City of Hailey.
Howard and ground water specialist Irene Nautch also tested the metals in the river water. Results from those tests will not be available until the week of May 29, he said.
“I would still be concerned and careful when entering and leaving flood waters,” said Shell. “Water is very dynamic and certainly more so during a flood.
Flood waters can be contaminated by failing septic systems due to saturated drain fields and chemicals so it’s important to wash with warm water and soap if you can in contact with flood waters, he added.
The City of Hailey has been testing drinking water twice a week and has found no problems.
The flooding has brought out all kinds of neighborliness ranging from Sun Valley Auto Club’s offer to provide storage for flood evacuees to the Wood River YMCA’s offer of free showers for evacuees. Even Scoops at The Senior Connection, 721 S. 3rd Ave., in Hailey, has gotten into the act with an anonymous donor offering to provide free ice cream to flood victims and volunteers between the hours of 1 and 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
On Saturday 125 volunteers from Camp Rainbow Gold came from around Idaho, as well as Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, California and New Mexico to spend a couple hours filling 4,000 sandbags. The volunteers were on their way to Cathedral Pines to train as camp counselors for this year’s camps for children with cancer and family members.
“We have been watching the coverage of the flooding and we wanted to help,” said Elizabeth Lizberg, Camp Rainbow Gold’s director. “We contacted some of our supporters personally to offer help and Steve England, a member of the Hailey police department and a longtime volunteer of Camp Rainbow Gold, helped set us up with sandbagging.”
The volunteers jumped right in, dancing, singing and forging new friendships as they shoveled sand. And in their weekend-ending evaluations, many recommend that camp volunteers do a service project every year in the Wood River Valley.
“We knew it would be fun and an excellent way to start our training but had no idea it would be such a great team building exercise,” said Lizberg. “The entire group jumped in and worked hard. They really wanted to complete the entire pile of sand. We had a great time and we hope we were able to ease some of the burden of the flooding.”
After several days below flood stage, temperatures in the 70s have prompted the Big Wood River to rise. The fast-moving cappuccino-covered water covered a box car that usually sticks out of the water at Boxcar Bend south of Ketchum Tuesday afternoon, even as sprinklers watered land near the bike path off Gimlet, which still resembles a long elongated pond because of the flooding.
The water climbed to 5.71 feet Wednesday morning in Hailey, after dipping to 4 feet on Monday, May 22.
Flood stage in Hailey is 6.0 feet.
Meteorologists are predicting that the river will peak at 5.79 feet—still below flood stage—on Thursday, May 25.
“We’re hoping the worst we’ll see in the future is 6.5 feet, compared to the 7.83 feet we saw May 8,” said Brown.
But, even though Hailey is technically no longer at flood stage, homes along War Eagle Drive and Cedar Bend are still surrounded by flood water, The city dumped rock on War Eagle Drive this week to prevent further erosion of asphalt there.
“Our river channel’s changed. We lost some 300 feet of bank in the Draper Preserve where we had a little fire three years ago,” said Brown. “And who knows how much sediment came down the river. That may have raised the river.”
The city is working with the Wood River Land Trust and Blaine County on long-term solutions between Bullion Street and the Bow Bridge.
Carmen Northen stood behind a two-foot-tall wall of sandbags around her home on Cedar Bend as she watched the Land Trust’s Scott Boettger, The Nature Conservancy's Mark Davidson and city representatives walk down the street in front of her home wearing hip-high waders and life jackets on a fact-finding mission Tuesday afternoon.
Her yard, once covered by more than a foot of water, is currently just muddy.
But, like so many in the neighborhood, she is worn out after two weeks of fighting flood waters.
“I went hiking in Croy but my head’s just not in it,” she sighed. “I just want to get back to my normal routine.”