E. coli and Geese Don’t Go Together

Chuck, these folks are looking for an easy answer, blame the geese and you can then solve the problem. I sampled the water at the lake we lived on for a number of years, I was a board member, and never found a problem with E. coli in areas where the geese congregated. I always took samples from my dock which was usually covered with poop and the birds were in and out of the yard constantly. The counts were never any higher there for total coliform than anywhere else on the lake and usually lower.

I was never able to find any data from any health org. that showed that geese were responsible for E. coli contamination. They are just easy targets.

I followed up on a number of so called goose contamination reports from area lakes and found that it was always caused by a leaking sewage system or old septic systems in the area. Dig around on the net a bit, I think you can find data to help you.

Good luck,

George Dobbelaere