Health officials test area swimming holes to check for bacteria, like E. coli, during the summer, but the test is just a quick glimpse into what's in the flowing waters of the Ozarks.
Laura Jahn, environmental public health specialist for the Taney County Health Department, said choosing a site to sample water from is as easy as identifying local swimming areas.
“We know people like to hang out in the water,” Jahn said. “They like to swim (and) it’s recreational.”
For the summer months, employees at the Taney County Health Department venture out to several sites with sterile bottles to collect water samples generally on Mondays, unless it’s raining, and then they push it to Tuesday.