High Bacteria Batters Bushkill Creek

Anyone taking a drive from Forks Township into Palmer Township off Bushkill Drive will notice the many people frolicking in the waters of the Bushkill Creek.

You see them swimming, tubing and fishing.

But a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection wants people to know that a part of the creek should be off limits for those recreational activities.

Colleen Connolly, the DEP's Northeast Regional spokeswoman, said a seven-and-a-half-mile stretch of the creek, from the Walters area of Palmer Township to Belfast Junction is impaired.

High levels of fecal bacteria are to blame, Connolly said.

She said that the levels have remained high -- and the area deemed impaired -- since 2008. Meanwhile, parts of Little Bushkill Creek in Plainfield Township have been impaired since 1998.

"We don't say to stay away," Connolly said. "Just don't swim and fish and come in contact with it."

Connolly said local officials, including the Bushkill Stream Conservancy, are aware of the levels. But no signs are posted alerting people to the high bacteria levels, she said.

"There's no sign there," she said. "I think people who live around there and use it are aware. But people who are from out of the area don't know about it. If you want to go swimming and fishing there, it's at your own risk."

Connolly said the bacteria develops from human and animal waste and is aided by hot weather during the summer, when levels are at their highest.

"A lack of rain isn't helping," she said. "That lowers levels because you have fresh rain water. But we're dealing with Mother Nature."

Exposure to the bacteria bring on such symptoms as fevers and stomach aches. In extreme cases, people may need to be hospitalized, she said.

"Just be careful and be aware," Connolly said.