Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Portal Water Shutdown 8/17

For whatever reason, this topic has a life of its own.

We assume the positive water sample was taken from a spigot somewhere. Bob, cattle are indeed a source of coliform, but not at Whitney Portal, instead humans, dogs, marmots, deer, bear, squirrels and any warm colon where coliform bacteria like to live.

Just for educational purposes, if a coliform likes 98.6F and a saline -like moisture, how long can it live when introduced into a hypo-osmotic (plain water) and cold ( say 40 F) environment. I wonder if the Health dept is actually culturing live coliform out of the water versus just doing a microscopic count of coliforms, thus indicating their presence dead or alive at some point and therefore of risk.

I do not know the answer and will just shut up. Anyone else interested can pursue.

SN just posted a second before me and I will add that his speculation of an animal doing his business in the box fits with my question about longevity of the bacteria once dumped