E Coli and Cyanobacteria

Tonight the staff from NRRI (Natural Resources Research Institute) gave us a zoom meeting about the results from our water sampling that we did last summer. I collected water from Chester Creek and grew E Coli in my house. After 48 hours I counted the E Coli, documented the results, and photographed the results. The hypothesis going in was that if a stream like Chester had significant amounts of E Coli, the beach where the stream emptied into Lake Superior would have more bacteria. That turned out not to be true. Another hypothesis was that Amity creek would have less bacteria because it has fewer roads and fewer houses near it. That also turned out not to be true. The fact that we did this study during a drought year was significant because the bacteria would be more concentrated. Another hypothesis was if you had more E Coli in the stream the more likely you were to have cyanobacteria and/or toxic algae blooms in the lake. That turned out not to be true. Cyanobacteria were correlated however with more phosphorus and turbidity in the water. This information had already been released to the Minnesota DNR and the city of Duluth so that they can decide where further study is warranted.