Last of two parts.

MOREHEAD CITY – The Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality Section has been short its third lab the last few years.

Shannon Jenkins, section chief, explained that back in 2014 when the Nags Head lab was closed, they also lost three of the five positions that handled recreational waters and shellfish sanitation in the northern part of the state.

“The legislature did add funding to re-establish our northeastern shellfish lab and added two positions back,” he continued. “Obviously we’re very happy about that … it’s going to have a lot of benefits to us and potentially to the industry up there.”

Jenkins said with having the northeast lab re-established, there’s the possibility of reopening about 54,000 acres of shellfish waters that have been closed since the lab was shuttered.

“It’s going to help us meet our required sampling (for bacteria) mandates in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, where we were struggling to meet those challenges logistically during this time period since it’s closed down,” he said. “It’s also going to allow us more effective response up in the northeast after temporary closures. We can get out and sample sooner and hopefully get them reopened back earlier after hurricanes at times when we have to close the waters.”

J.D. Potts, Recreational Water Quality Program manager, added that right now they’re only sampling two sound side sites in the northeast – Colington and Jockey’s Ridge — and the lab being reopening will allow for more sound side sampling for recreational waters.

Jenkins said they do not have a date for when the Nags Head lab will open but hope for a winter opening if all goes well.

Jenkins explained that shellfish sanitation is a public health agency. With shellfish, the section’s main role is to ensure the safety for consumers of mollusks. The section monitors shellfish harvesting waters by testing for certain bacteria and works with handlers to ensure proper treatment to make sure the shellfish are safe to eat prior to hitting the retail market.

“We do a lot of inspections and certification of shellfish dealers that handle shellfish,” he said.

With the recreational program, they try to monitor the public swimming beaches and notify the public when bacteria standards are exceeded, Potts added.

Potts said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversees the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, which the North Carolina Shellfish Sanitation Section is a part, and has its own criteria for classifying shellfish waters while the Environmental Protection Agency has its own criteria for classifying recreational waters.

The biggest difference between recreational waters and shellfish sanitation is how the bacteria is introduced to the body, he continued, with shellfish, the bacteria is consumed but with recreational use, the bacteria is introduced by contact.

Potts explained that oysters and clams are filter feeders that filter up to 100 times the concentration of bacteria in their viscera that’s in the water column above.

“People eat the whole animal raw,” he said. “With shellfish waters, if someone were to eat eight to 10 clams they’re potentially going to get a lot higher levels of bacteria ingested than it would be if you swallowed water.”

According to a division fact sheet, there are more than 200 swimming sites tested along the coast for enterococci, a type of bacteria found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals such as birds, dogs and humans. The bacteria will not cause illness but the EPA found that enterococcus closely relates with occurrence of human illness.

“We’re seeing if enterococci or fecal coliform are present, then there’s a likely chance that there’s other fecal microbes that will make you sick,” Potts said.

“It’s an easy way to monitor for potential pathogens without having to monitor for every single pathogen,” Jenkins added. “We’re checking to see if there’s bacteria from the gut of warm-blooded animals, that’s really our concern, which then you could assume there is E.coli or other pathogens in there.”

Commercial shellfish harvesters know to check for shellfish closures after the rain, but many visitors to the area do not know that water quality affects shellfish.

Jenkins said that the staff hears of a number of visitors that come to the area and have no idea they can’t go clamming in a certain spot. “They don’t make a connection between water quality and shellfish being filter feeders being potentially hazardous to consume from the wrong areas.”

Regarding recreational shellfish harvesting, folks need to know there are regulations for size, season and areas where they can shellfish. They can contact the Division of Marine Fisheries or Shellfish sanitation for more information.

Jenkins added that one other thing to remember for recreational shellfish harvesting is that after harvest, bacteria can multiply rapidly if left in the heat. It’s important to keep the shellfish cool and refrigerated prior to consumption.

A big issue with shellfish is naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, which can cause illness, and there are many different species of the bacteria that have nothing to do with pollution that are present in greater numbers in warmer months, Jenkins said. Someone who is immunocompromised, such from diabetes or cancer, should avoid eating raw shellfish.

Stormwater and wastewater are two big inputs that affect water quality, Jenkins said.

Major impacts would be stormwater and the associated runoff from the land, which would include failing septic systems, sewer breaks, sewer discharges, manhole overflows, wildlife and domestic pet waste, “Anything like that on the land, when it rains hard is for sure rushing right into the water with little or no treatment.”

Jenkins said municipal wastewater would be another potential impact. With infrastructure issues associated with wastewater treatment plants, such as failures of collection systems, lift stations and mechanical or disinfection systems, “there’s a number of things with municipal systems that can cause discharge of partially treated or untreated water that would be a real big issue with both recreational swimmers and shellfish.”

Potts added that while they don’t have monitoring sites adjacent to all waters near urban areas, “Any place you have a lot of dockage and boats with heads, those are good places that people may not want to fish or swim.”

For the most part, Potts added, ocean beaches aren’t really affected by stormwater, “Sound side (areas) are typically more affected by rainfall and runoff than the ocean side.”

There are spots ocean side that are permanently posted such as where storm drains discharge in both Nags Head and near the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle. There is a sign posted to let beachgoers know that if the pipe is discharging, to stay at least 200 feet away on either side of it. They advise that children should not play in the discharge.

Potts said after heavy rainfall, folks shouldn’t go swimming immediately. “I would wait for a couple tidal cycles to exchange before swimming again,” That goes not just for estuarine waters; that goes for inland bodies of water as well. They have the same stormwater issues here.

“The rain is basically rinsing the landscape and all of that ends up in the body of water,” Potts added. “The problem is that when you have runoff, all the little particles and all the sediment going in with the stormwater has got bacteria connected to it.”

One way to slow bacteria and viruses from going into the water is infiltration into the soil. Infiltration basins are good treatment options to manage stormwater, Jenkins said. With infiltration basins, there’s a thin layer of water that should soak in within a day or two and help improve water quality.

During heavy rains, they “make temporary closures and then wait for it to clear up after several days or weeks and go resample the waters to make sure it’s returned to normal before reopening the harvest,” Jenkins said. “It affects the industry, but we have to do it for public health aspect.”

First of two parts.

MOREHEAD CITY – The torrential rainfall last month did more than drench communities along the coast, it set a record.

“In regards to July 2018, we saw the heaviest rainfall in the latter half of the month. Our office in Newport recorded 12.95 inches of rain for the month, making last month our wettest July since records began. Coastal North Carolina was hammered with rain,” said meteorologist Morgan Simms with the National Weather Service office in Newport.

“Some areas saw up to 8 inches above normal. Billy Mitchell Airport in the Cape Hatteras area reported 20.31 inches of rain for the month, which is the second wettest month ever for the region since records began — only June of 1949 was wetter,” Simms continued. “For the year, the Cape Hatteras area has received 57.60 inches of rain as of Aug. 14. Normally we should be seeing around 33 inches of rain by now, which means we are nearly 2 feet above normal year-to-date. For some context, normal annual rainfall at Cape Hatteras is 58.04 inches.”

In addition to setting records, as a result of the deluge and the subsequent stormwater runoff, many of North Carolina’s waters were closed to harvesting shellfish and recreational use by the Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality Section of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

The Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality Section “is responsible for classifying coastal waters as to their suitability for shellfish harvesting, monitoring and issuing advisories for coastal recreational swimming areas, and certification of shellfish and crustacean processing plants,” according to the website.

Water samples are collected no less than six times a year from each growing area. The samples are tested for fecal coliform bacteria, an indicator that human or animal wastes are present in the water. The shellfish almost continuously filter water through their gills to gather food particles, but they also collect during the filtering process bacteria, viruses or other pollutants in the water. If shellfish that contain high concentrations of bacteria or viruses are consumed raw or undercooked, they could cause severe illness, according the website.

The rains during the past several weeks have not been typical, said Andy Haines, environmental program supervisor II with the section.

Haines said that some of the areas that were closed, such as the Outer Banks, Roanoke and Croatan sounds and areas in Hyde and Pamlico counties, are rarely closed.

“Typically once or twice a year, if at all,” he said.

“The duration of these closures, because of both the volume of rain as well as the continuous nature of these storms, has been longer than normal,” he continued. For example, portions of Brunswick County have been closed continually since July 8, as of Aug. 20, and portions of Stump Sound were closed from July 13 to July 20 and then again on July 21. Several other popular areas like White Oak River, Newport River and North River were closed as well, although some have since reopened.

On Aug. 9, a portion of Croatan Sound around the Dare County Regional Airport was closed due to the pumping of floodwaters to the sound.

Recent openings include the following:

Stump Sound/Alligator Bay and around Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo on Aug. 10; the Newport River Aug. 15; Intracoastal Waterway around Ocean Isle, Shallotte River, Lockwood Folly River, Queens Creek and Ward Creek Aug. 16; Myrtle Grove Sound, Masonboro Sound, Greenville Sound and Bay River Aug. 17; and a portion of the White Oak River up to the northern tip of Jones Island Aug. 18.

Still closed as of Aug. 18 were Tubbs Inlet, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway around Holden Beach, a portion of the White Oak River upstream of Jones Island and a portion of Croatan Sound closed because of the stormwater pumping.

The Shellfish Sanitation Program posts proclamations with closures and openings of shellfish waters and has a new app that shows real-time shellfish closures.

North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association President Jay Styron, who owns Cedar Island Select Farm Raised Oysters, said that just about every grower in North Carolina was affected at one time or another during the recent rainfall.

“(The closures) are always a safety measure,” he said, adding the shellfish growers understand the closures and why they occur.

Growers do take into account when selecting their site how much development there is around the area, which will affect water quality due to stormwater runoff, and take a look at historic data from shellfish sanitation.

Styron said that consumers can learn a lot about their shellfish by looking at the harvest tag. He said the oysters they sell all come with a harvest tag that includes the lease number, date and time, which would show how long the oysters have been out of the water.

“You get some good information right off the bat (from the harvest tag) … that’s really going to tell you the most about your shellfish,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt if you know a grower and can buy directly from a grower.”

J.D. Potts, Recreational Water Quality Program manager, said that recreational waters were affected by the recent rainfall as well.

Recreational Water Quality Program officials sample 209 sites each week throughout the coastal region from April to October for a type of bacteria called enterococci found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals such as birds, dogs, raccoons and humans. The bacteria does not cause illness but the Environmental Protection Agency found that enterococcus closely correlates with incidence of human illness, according to a water quality FAQ.

Swimming in contaminated water could lead to diarrheal diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasitic protozoa as well as ear, nose, throat, skin and respiratory infections.

“In the Northern Outer Banks where we had the most intense rainfall, the beach towns and communities did a great job communicating to the beachgoers that a precautionary swimming advisory was in place,” Potts said. “Lifeguards were making sure that people on the beach were informed and the communities that were pumping flood water to beach posted signs advising against swimming.”

The Shellfish Sanitation program adheres to the guidelines of the National Shellfish Sanitation Program Guide administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The recreational water quality swimming water quality levels must comply with standards set by the EPA and the state.

Next: State Set to Step Up Water Quality Testing