Newsletter v2011_6

Bridge, Phillips, Elam Drainage District News From the desk of Milton Sandy Jr

June 24, 2011

Vol 2011-6

This newsletter is directed to friends and supporters of our efforts to get something done about the repetitive flooding in Corinth and Alcorn County which on May 2, 2010, caused loss of life, public and private property and threatened public health and safety by the massive release of raw sewage into flood waters. If you have news, questions or comments, please fire away.

What's with the Bean Sprouts?

Flood Threat for June There has been and continues to be a lot in the news lately about deadly Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria killing an estimated 43 people in Europe that has been traced to contaminated bean sprouts. First it was Germany where bean sprouts were targeted as the source, then France and this weekend I was reading of a warning in England. This is the worst identified outbreak as far as fatalities since the 1993 Jack in the Box hamburger chain incident was identified where 4 children died and hundreds were hospitalized from eating infected hamburgers.

I'm not a really big fan of bean sprouts, but my wife and son both love Chinese food and favor bean sprouts in fried rice dishes so this was chilling information at our house. But the really appalling thing is the dichotomy of something you think of as organic being more harmful than what has been characterized as food raised by modern agricultural practices.

Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

What I want to point out is that there is a lot of misinformation being floated in these headlines. When you hear about bean sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus, lettuce or whatever vegetable and E. coli, ask yourself if what you are hearing isn't a bunch of manure which is most certainly the real source.

First of all, most E.coli bacteria are harmless. They are found in the intestinal tract of all warm blooded animals including men, bears, elk, goats, sheep, deer, dogs. They’re most often associated with cows. Next, there is nothing inherently harmful about the bean sprouts- the sprouts only carried the E.coli, they did not produce it. E.coli are so small over a hundred thousand (100,000) can fit on the head of a pin. Over 700 types of E.coli bacteria have been identified, most are benign, some even beneficial. E.coli is used for most common bacteriological testing of water, not because of the presence of E.coli itself but because its known source is animal waste or sewage. The presence of other harmful viral and bacterial agents is assumed to be present wherever E.coli is found.

The particular dangerous E.coli that is killing people is called STEC (Shiga-toxin-producing E.coli), for the name of their terrible poison, and pronounced (ess-teck) Shiga toxin is one of the most potent toxins known to man, so much so that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists it as a potential bio-terrorist agent. It seems likely that DNA from Shiga toxin-

Contact: Milton Sandy Jr 662-286-6087 - Fax 287-4187 - E-mail mlsandy@tsixroads.com

producing Shigella bacteria was transferred by a bacteriophage (a virus that infects bacteria) to otherwise harmless E. coli bacteria, thereby providing them with the genetic material to produce Shiga toxin. Shiga-producing E. coli organisms have several characteristics that make them so dangerous. They are hardy organisms that can survive several weeks on surfaces such as counter tops, and up to a year in some materials like compost. They have a very low infectious dose meaning that only a relatively small number of bacteria (fewer than 50 out of the 100,000 on the head of a pin) are needed “to set-up housekeeping” in a victim’s intestinal tract and cause infection. There are tens of thousands of “sporadic” cases from STEC every year in the United States alone, most of them go unreported but are no less deadly.

So what has this got to do with drainage? Last year after the May 2, 2010 flood, after being trained in water certification testing, we identified samples from Elam Creek at the Mitchell St. Bridge and then the storm water retention across from Kroger as having excessively high E.coli counts. Our assumption is that the raw sewage from flood waters deposited in the retention pond incubated and caused a growing colony there. The storm water retention pond is supposed to retain water from the Kroger/K-mart parking lot only during heavy rainfall events and then slowly release it by a culvert from there into Elam Creek. Because of blockage by flood debris and vegetation, it has not been working properly and the water level has not declined. After freezing winter temperatures, we assumed the E.coli levels would have gone down. If that did occur, it did little good because the retention pond received a new dose of sewage laden storm water on April 27, 2011 of this year.

So on 6/8/2011, because of a sewage smell which I believed was coming from the retention pond, I took bacteriological water samples from the Allen St Bridge (where there is what appears to be a sewage pipe damaged and broken)- downstream on Elam from the retention pond, Mitchell St Bridgeupstream on Elam from the retention pond and from the retention pond itself. The E.coli test results from Allen St. was 0 FC/100 ml (indicating this wasn't the source of the problem), from Mitchell St. was 35,000 FC/100 ml, and from the retention pond was 210,000 FC/100 ml. Acceptable fecal coliform levels in freshwater should not exceed 100 FC/100 ml. The health standard for drinking water is zero, for swimming 200 FC, and for partial body contact (boating) 1000 FC/100 ml. The tested level for the Dark blue/black colonies are E.coli retention pond is nearing pure sewage levels and needs to be reduced by opening the drainage just as soon as possible. I have contacted the owners of the shopping center who assure me that a local contractor has been hired and will repair the problem shortly, weather permitting.

Public health and safety is one of the most important reasons for society's existence and the justifications for government bodies. It is one of the reasons these drainage canals were built in Page 2/4

Corinth's history. While we may have forgotten and ignored this history, the reasons for keeping them cleaned out and functioning properly are still there and more examples besides flooding may come back to haunt us if we ignore the warning signs.

Local Drainage History You can't think about drainage without eventually talking about bridges. Lately, Stephanie and I have done some riding around the county and taken notice of bridges. We have explored all the bridges over the Hatchie River in Alcorn County and were particularly struck by one which we have discovered is a very historic bridge that is in danger of being replaced so we think everyone might want to take a look at it while it is still around.

CR600 Bridge looking West over Hatchie River The Hatchie River pretty much divides the Western side of Alcorn County from the Eastern side. The Hatchie is subject to flooding over large areas and can obviously be very destructive to bridges and structures in its path.

No doubt the supervisor for the Fifth district has always had great challenges maintaining roads and bridges over the Hatchie.

The CR600 bridge over the Hatchie along with another one on CR755 also over the Hatchie are probably the two oldest and only surviving steel truss bridges which we have found in Alcorn County.

CR600 was originally a part of old Hwy 72 which at one time went thru CR600 Bridge over Hatchie looking downstream (North) downtown Kossuth following

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rugged ridge tops thru Alcorn County into Tippah thru Chalybeate and Walnut to Memphis.

Bridges thru the later part of the 1800's were largely wooden but beginning around the early 1900's were replaced with standardized design steel truss bridges invented in the mid-1800's. This particular bridge is identified as a Warren Pony Truss bridge spanning 52 feet over the Hatchie.

The deck of the bridge is wood which has asphalt overlay on top. There is an interesting website devoted to historic bridges at www.bridgehunter.com where I have posted these and other pictures as well as obtained information about local bridges. Apparently the Federal Government maintains a national database of bridges where condition and safety information is documented. This database identifies this bridge as being built around 1930.

The most striking thing that I notice when looking at these bridges is their strength and substance. They remind you of things that were really built to last. People who enjoy restoring and playing with old cars must get some of that same satisfaction. My first memories of cars were substantial bodies and bumpers that were functional to protect the automobile. When you tapped on the fender, you felt a solid response. Today you tap on a car and you get about as much response as squeezing a bag of potato chips. Infants squeeze toys have as much substance as most car bumpers.

So if you are old enough to enjoy a trip down memory lane, drive out thru Kossuth and visit this bridge before it is lost history. You have to approach from the East and you'll see a road closed sign before you get to the bridge- you can safely ignore it to drive down to the bridge- the road is closed for another bridge further down on the west side- don't go alone!

Other news The City of Corinth working with the Bridge Phillips Elam Concurrent Drainage Districts (BPECDD) has recently submitted a community development block grant application to the community services division of the Mississippi Development Authority. My thanks to the city's grant consultant Mr. Jack Griffith, who along with community volunteers Charlotte Doehner and Arline Crawford, and Robert Scott IV, Engineer for the BPECDD prepared it. We hope to hear good news on that in the near future.

With the solid commitment of Mayor Tommy Irwin and our new Board of Aldermen, we continue to work on paperwork required to facilitate the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District's (TRVWMD) planned Charlotte Doehner, Arline Crawford, Jack Griffith, projects to help us with emergency clearing. We Milton Sandy at planning and public hearing meeting have had nothing but cooperation with property owners. We hope to have this done in the very near future- stay tuned!

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