Stuart D G, Bissonnette G K, Goodrich T D, Walter W G
Appl Microbiol. 1971 Dec;22(6):1048-54. doi: 10.1128/am.22.6.1048-1054.1971.
Bacteriological studies in 1968 and 1969 corroborated earlier findings that a municipal watershed which had been closed to public entry since 1917 yielded water with four to six times the coliform count found in an adjacent mountain watershed open to recreational activities. Similarly, chemical investigations showed higher concentrations of most ions in water from the closed area. Physiological differentiation of coliform and enterococcal bacteria revealed similar types of organisms in both animal droppings and stream water, with fecal coliforms accounting for as much as 70% of the coliform counts observed in the closed area in 1969. Opening of the closed drainage for limited recreation and expanded logging operations in the spring of 1970 coincided with an unexpected decrease in bacterial contamination of that stream. It is postulated that these human activities drove from the watershed a large wild animal population which had contributed substantially to the previous bacterial pollution. It would seem that the practice of closing high-mountain watersheds to public entry is questionable if governmental standards for water quality are to be met, and it also seems that the standards themselves should be reexamined.
1968年和1969年的细菌学研究证实了早期的研究结果，即自1917年起就禁止公众进入的一个城市集水区所产的水中，大肠杆菌数量是附近一个对休闲活动开放的山区集水区的四至六倍。同样，化学调查显示，封闭区域水中的大多数离子浓度更高。对大肠杆菌和肠球菌的生理分化研究表明，动物粪便和溪水中的微生物类型相似，1969年在封闭区域观察到的大肠杆菌数量中，粪大肠菌占多达70%。1970年春天，封闭的排水区域开放用于有限的娱乐活动，并扩大了伐木作业，与此同时，该溪流的细菌污染意外减少。据推测，这些人类活动将大量野生动物赶出了集水区，而这些野生动物此前对细菌污染有很大影响。如果要达到政府的水质标准，禁止公众进入高山集水区的做法似乎值得怀疑，而且标准本身似乎也应该重新审视。
