MAGNOLIA SPRINGS — As antique tractors and multi-row golf carts decorated with red, white and blue streamers staged under the live oak canopy downtown ahead of the Biggest Little 4th of July Parade, word was already circulating.

Earlier that morning, at 6:30 a.m., Mobile Baykeeper had released its weekly Swim Where It's Monitored (SWIM) report, and Cold Hole, a popular swimming area on the Magnolia River not far from the town's center, came back with extreme levels of bacteria — Enterococcus and E. Coli.

Baykeeper, a nonprofit that the city has contracted to test Cold Hole along with Bemis Bay further down the Magnolia River over the last several years, also tests 17 other sites around Baldwin and Mobile counties as part of its weekly reporting. In alignment with the Environmental Protection Agency, Baykeeper considers water safe for swimming when the bacteria count is below 104 Most Probable Number of bacteria per 100 mL of water (<104 MPN /100 mL.) At freshwater sites, that number can be closer to 235 MPN / 100 mL, according to Cassie Bates, Baykeeper staff scientist.

The week prior, on June 27, Baykeeper reported a reading of 346 at Cold Hole, nearly three times the EPA's recommended safe swimming level. Then, on July 2, ahead of arguably the most popular holiday of the year in Magnolia Springs, Cold Hole came back with a reading of a staggering 4,352.

It's not uncommon for test results to fluctuate week to week, especially following heavy rains, but Cold Hole has typically tested consistently well over the years, according to Bates. This summer, however, the site has struggled with higher bacteria levels. The simple presence of Enterococcus or E. Coli isn't necessarily dangerous, but they are fecal matter indicators.

Since the Independence Day spike, Cold Hole has not registered above 300 MPN / 100 mL, but the question of what caused the spike is still up for debate.

Comments on Baykeeper's July 4 Facebook post sharing the report point to live stock waste or overflowing septic tanks.

"We don't solve those problems directly through SWIM, we just use SWIM to report to people so they can make informed decisions," Bates said. "Then [Baykeeper's] field and research team can kind of take that information and work with community members or work internally to see if there's an opportunity to isolate the potential point sources of pollution that could be causing consistently high levels."

'AN ARTERY TO THE HEART OF THIS TOWN'

Along with Baykeeper and led by Councilman Bob Turner, a trained volunteer, grassroots effort to develop a baseline for the river has been taking shape in Magnolia Springs. Turner restarted the initiative that began in the late 2000s, Magnolia River Alabama Water Watch in May, and it will soon include nine members.

Each member has taken a 14-hour course (eight in person, six online) on water testing taught by Alabama Water Watch, a citizen volunteer water-quality monitoring program covering all of the major river basins of the state and a part of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Along with learning how to test for bacteria, the volunteers also learned how to test for pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, hardness and turbidity.

"It is a strict, controlled testing procedure," Turner said. "We aren't just going down there and getting a bottle of water and looking at it."

The task force is now testing more sites along the Magnolia River, which was designated as an Outstanding Alabama Waterway by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) in 2009 to protect its ecological significance and recreational value.

By gathering these samples in places that haven't been consistently tested, Turner and Magnolia River Alabama Water Watch members said they hope to get develop a baseline health of the whole river and begin to pinpoint where problems are originating.

"We are a not a regulatory agency," said Turner, who was educated as a biologist. "We are a volunteer group that collects data, and when there are any spikes we will be able to react to them and pass that data on quickly."

According to Turner, the task force not only has the support of Alabama Water Watch but the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, City of Foley, Weeks Bay National Estuary, ADEM, United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and others.

On Sept. 27, all these groups will come together for a testing "blitz" where samples will be taken along the entirety of the river at the same time. Magnolia Springs is currently looking for more volunteers to be a part of the community-led scientific effort.

Lisa Sanders, a Magnolia Springs resident, Water Watch volunteer and former lab tech with a background in biology, stressed that despite her experience, the volunteer group makes the training process streamlined and provides a simple to use testing manual to take with you.

"They make this so fool-proof," she said. "You don't have to be a chemist or biochemist or even a biology major; any person can do this, any interested citizen."

For those interested in volunteering, reach out to Magnolia Springs Town Clerk Hannah Driskell at (251) 965-9888.

"The river is an artery to the heart of this town," Turner, the councilman, said. "We are very passionate about it and very proud. It's our responsibility to care for it."