Erv Klaas was the first to notice something was amiss in the Squaw Creek.

A volunteer for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Klaas takes water samples from two places on the Squaw Creek; where it’s crossed by Fourth Street and Duff Ave, to test for a variety of things, from water clarity to bacteria levels.

In July, Klaas first reported a difference in the E. Coli levels reported between his two testing sites and immediately reported the increased bacteria levels to city officials. In August and September, Klaas recorded similar discrepancies between the two sites, and continued to report them to the city of Ames, which began checking storm sewers for any sort of drainage that might have occurred.

September 23, Klaas sampled his sites and recorded approximately 11,700 E. Coli colonies per 100 mils at the spot near Duff, compared to his sampling from the spot near Fourth St., which yielded only 3,000 colonies per 100 mils.

A reading of 235 would be enough to close a public beach, Klaas said, but since the creek is only classified as a secondary contact stream, it’s held to different standards.

Saturday, the Skunk River Navy discovered a sanitary sewer leak in Squaw Creek during one of its cleaning events.

The leak was found by South Fifth Street, near the Boys and Girls Club of Story County.

“Cleaners were wading in the river waist deep cleaning it out when a few of the 65 people attending smelled some ‘bad smelling stuff,'” said Jim Colbert, associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.

The cleaners said they knew right away there was a problem.

Throughout Klaas’ samplings, he noticed that none of his other readings were very different, other than that the water was muddier, but not enough to indicate any extreme problems.

The cleaners hauled approximately two tons of trash out of the creek Saturday and said it saw a “large concrete sewer.”

Colbert reported it to Jake Moore, stormwater specialist, Monday morning.

Tuesday, Colbert went with Moore to show him the leak.

“I’m very pleased that the city responded so quickly,” Colbert said.

Steve Schainker, city manager, said he learned of the leak Wednesday and held an emergency City Council meeting Thursday to decide what happens next.

“If we had gone through the normal non-emergency process, it could have taken a month or so,” Schainker said. “We hope to start working next week since we got authorization for an emergency purchase process.”

Schainker said a hose was placed to bypass the section of the creek washed away by floods and that there is no danger to the environment.

“It might have just happened recently,” Schainker said.

He said he is pretty sure the flood caused the leak and will look for reimbursement from FEMA later.

Colbert expects the water is safe and is classified for general human contact.