Monitoring the Cahaba

Before Birmingham resident David Butler became the Cahaba riverkeeper three years ago, he took over a canoeing and kayaking business along the Cahaba River. He would take families out on trips, and the same question would always be asked: “Is it safe to swim here?” 

He didn’t know.

“There was no information that was readily available to me to answer those questions,” Butler said.

Four years ago, Butler and other concerned residents decided to take the matter into their own hands. This group created Swim Guide to answer questions about river safety. 

Every Thursday starting the first week in May, Butler and a group of volunteers go to 16 recreational access points along the Cahaba River to conduct research, collect water quality data and test bacteria samples. 

They take the samples to a lab they share with the Coosa Riverkeeper and monitor the results, which are posted Friday morning on an interactive map on their website. They also send out text, email and Facebook alerts, especially if there’s a high level of E. coli in the river.

So far, Butler said, they’ve gotten a “tremendous response from the public,” including people along U.S. 280, Hoover and Mountain Brook. 

Through Swim Guide, a number of water quality problems have been discovered. When this happens, Butler said they quickly direct the data from the problems to the responsible party, wastewater plant or appropriate authorities. So far, Swim Guide has been funded entirely by donations and grants. 

Butler also made it clear that not all the work they do is construed as negative. One example he gave involved the residents of Helena, who were “absolutely positive” that the wastewater plant in Helena was polluting the river with raw sewage, so people wouldn’t go out to swim or fish.

“We were able to sort of dispute that notion, that it wasn’t true,” Butler said. “We don’t go out trying to expose anyone. We just go out to find the facts that are actually there and to find out why that’s the case. So in the case of Helena, we were able to take some negative public perception and turn it around.”

Each week, the Cahaba River Society takes students, community groups and any interested party out on river trips. Butler said this is one of the fundamental things about the work they do, because it inspires people to take action to make sure the river isn’t polluted with chemicals, wastewater or trash.

Randall Haddock, the Cahaba River Society field director, said part of the way for residents to address water quality problems is for them to address the municipal courts and encourage them to take stormwater permits and wastewater management into account. Contacting their mayor and state representatives to let them know how much residents enjoy and value the Cahaba River is a direct and easy way to send a message about the importance of wastewater management and water quality in Birmingham, Haddock said.  

“There’s 7 million different chemicals to kill bugs and preserve our decks and stuff that drips off of cars. There are toxic problems, and we need to make some effort to minimize this,” he said. 

In early 2017, seven water conservation and environmental groups across Alabama officially petitioned the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to review the current process the Environmental Protection Agency uses to determine whether the state of Alabama is fulfilling its obligations to protect the water and its residents who swim in it through the Clean Water Act, which addresses regulating water pollution. A petition was also submitted this year to the Alabama Environmental Management Commission to immediately, as specified by the Clean Water Act, notify the public when they are exposed to sewage spills and overflows.

Butler, who is part of the petition, said the end goal is for the state to require each wastewater treatment plant to “adopt a framework to deal with when they have an incident that affects water quality on any water body that people might swim or fish or paddle in.”

“Up to this point, they’ve declined to do that, and by the conditions of their permit, they’re required to do it, give a public notice, but there’s no official definition to what public notice means currently,” Butler said. 

As of right now, Butler said the state could fulfill its requirement to tell the public by simply posting a paper notice on the doors to the courthouse saying the water quality will be impaired for a few days.

Butler said the information that Swim Guide shares each Friday is picked up quickly, especially if there’s a problem with a site. It’s not uncommon for them to see an overwhelming response. In one instance, he’s seen more than 70,000 people access the data in a span of 24 hours when there was a sewage problem. Still, there are many people in Birmingham who don’t know about Swim Guide or water safety. 

“We certainly don’t expect the state to notify people of every problem that might exist, but when they know there’s a problem, that should be pretty easy to do, and we believe it’s not really that complicated in this age of information that we live in,” Butler said.  

Swimming or fishing in water contaminated with E. coli or high bacteria levels can cause gastrointestinal problems, vomiting and diarrhea. In the past, people have mistaken these symptoms as the flu or food poisoning. 

For Alabama Rivers Alliance Program Director Mitch Reid, who said he likes to take his kids out to play on spots along the Cahaba River as much as possible, knowing the water quality and supporting the petition is a necessity, not just about “fish vs. jobs.”

“Swim Guide is a response to where the state doesn’t do a good job of requiring people to tell you if the river is safe,” Reid said. “Thank goodness we have these people.”

Butler said he hears stories all the time about serious infections after cuts or entire families getting sick after outings, but it’s hard to verify the stories with so little data and research being recorded along the river. 

Having that data, Butler said, is the key to solving some of the problems people address him with day to day. Not only that, but they are able to better monitor biodiversity levels and avoid lost species of snails, mussels and fish, which continues to be a problem. 

The Cahaba Riverkeeper operates strictly on grants and individual donations. Butler encouraged people who wish to donate to write on their checks exactly what they want done with the money. 

For people who routinely use the river, Butler said it’s important to become informed about water quality issues in the area. 

“We think it’s great that everyone loves the river, but we are kind of loving the river to death,” Butler said. “So at some point, you have to take a stand and make some changes or else these impacts we are fearful of in the future will become reality much quicker.”

To view the Swim Guide, go to cahabariverkeeper.org/swimguide/.