FECAL COLIFORM AND ESCHERICHIA COLI CONTAMINATION IN PRAIRIE  CREEK
WATERSHED

Ildiko Holschuh, Gary E. Wagenbach, and Debby Walser-Kuntz.
Carleton College, 300 N. College St., Northfield, MN 55057.  

Water quality in the upper Mississippi watershed is being jeopardized by pollution 
from dysfunctioning septic systems, feedlot run-off, and improperly managed fields. 
Prairie Creek was found in a 1999 MPCA study to have very high levels of fecal 
coliform.  This study provides a detailed description of the extent of contamination in 
a portion of the watershed.  Weekly sampling, during the summer of 1999, for fecal 
coliform concentrations was conducted using membrane filtration on m-FC agar. 
Further analysis for the presence of Escherichia coli was done using Chromagar 
E. coli R medium.  No naturally occurring water sources were below the public water 
quality health standard of 200 coliform/100 mL, and most counts exceeded those of 
the MPCA 1999 study.  E. coli composed on average 85% of the fecal coliform 
counts.  The source for the contamination remains unknown, and further research and 
education in the local community about water quality are needed.
 
Keywords:  Escherichia coli, contamination, Prairie Creek
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