FORT WORTH - In 10 years, Fort Worth will be transformed. A bypass channel will redirect the Trinity to create an island full of development north of downtown.
Woody Frossard is the project manager for the Trinity River Vision Authority, and environmental director for the Tarrant Regional Water District. He describes the Trinity Vision Uptown project as “something similar to a San Antonio downtown River Walk, only on a much larger scale.”
The Trinity River Vision Authority has encouraged families to start using the river now. There are tubing parties downtown and a new wakeboard park near Interstate 35 and Northside Drive.
That leads to a question – what’s in the water?
WFAA hired Ana-Lab to test for E. coli, which indicates excrement from humans or warm-blooded animals in the water. It can indicate harmful bacteria.
Two samples at the wakeboard park found virtually no E. coli. One of two samples at the tubing area, however, was enough to make you sick.
Dr. Joon-hak Lee is an environmental scientist at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He described the possible effects as “diarrhea, loose stool [and] sometimes vomiting.”
The sample found 387 E. coli organisms per 100 milliliters of river water. That's well above what the Environmental Protection Agency recommends as acceptable for a single sample.
Lee explained that there's actually always at least some E. coli in rivers and lakes. When average levels over time hit 126, EPA scientists become concerned. They also become concerned when 25 percent or more of the samples exceed 236.
One sample, however, does not tell you much.
“You would still not be able to tell the public the water is safe or it's not safe, either one,” Frossard said.
News 8 went to look for other official samplings done at the tubing location near Paddock Park in downtown Fort Worth and the area by the new wakeboarding park up the river.
The inquiry revealed, however, that there were no such samples.
“We haven't had the public going in at those locations before and the wake park didn't exist until this year," explained Frossard.
News 8 checked samples taken in the past couple of years at the sites closest to those recreation areas.
Out of five sites, four exceeded a recommended EPA standard for concern, meaning the levels could increase your chances of getting sick. The sites were located near I-30 and the Trinity River west of downtown, 4th Street and the Trinity River, a creek south of 4th Street and the Trinity River and Beach Street at the Trinity River.
Samples at the site at Ops Dam, located just south of Northside at the Trinity River, were at acceptable levels.
“I'm very comfortable with the water quality in the Trinity,” Frossard said. “As a matter of fact, I get in every time and I enjoy it, every time.”
On Friday, Frossard took the first official samples at the tubing and wakeboarding areas. They came back at acceptable levels.
Lee said more samples are needed at all sampling locations to protect the public. Frossard said the Trinity River Water District will start testing the tubing and wakeboard park areas regularly this fall.
E-mail chawes@wfaa.com
