A dip in the lake can be refreshing, but it’s important to consider what’s going on in the water that you may not see – especially for E. coli bacteria.

Identifying an E.coli issue

It’s fairly easy to see Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and algae at a lake.  Unfortunately, the same visual assessment does not apply to E. coli.  However, there are three indicators of E. coli in a lake to consider:

Have you ever wondered why groundwater nitrate maps show so much variation across Nebraska? Or why wells near to your own tested well have such different nitrate levels? The answer has three parts. Nitrate in groundwater varies from place to place because of differences in:

Floodwater from recent heavy rains, snow melt, and flooding may potentially carry pollutants with it.  During floods, water comes into contact with things it normally wouldn’t, such as gasoline, animal waste, chemical storage facilities and more.  If your private drinking water well has been impacted by flood water,  your water supply may have been contaminated with pollutants carried in the flood water.

The City of Auburn, population 3,000, is located in southeast Nebraska, near the Little Nemaha River, approximately seven miles upstream of its confluence with the Missouri River. The City receives its drinking water from a wellfield located east of the community within an alluvial aquifer along the Little Nemaha River. The wellfield consists of 11 vertical wells averaging 45 to 50 feet below the ground's surface, pumping up to 150 million gallons per year.