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')i'__'l_,i,'j,i,!il-'i'i'iit'"ii _i'1i'i!r,fl'i'iit .,| Illll.lll1lllPll!llhE5iirc-""iiik"iiiri ”MM -.,.u.-aa,-.i--ss-s-rc-s-G-'c-os--'-GG-"-- "--iit1',1td-rc?i), Waterlooi, director of rel ration and Insure Services Bob McFarland, md the uh y mm envrronmenral coordmator, Bruin Irushmskl both mud In receIti [nu-mews coutmucd vtur- round leedrng ol wateriowl HI the watershed could lhrealen the health ol human: and “ME!- lou I alrke. McFarland and Trushmskl would like the public to tut back on feeding waterfowl m the my: torumued public Ruling of waterfowl Ill Waterloo " mnlnbuung lo J rualor water qual- Hy problem m the tuurel Creek watershed lor two city officials, McFarland sand because people have gotten Into the habit of feeding waterfowl, particularly ducks, year-round m the city. the ducks ttow have no Incentive to fly south m the wmtemme As a result, their corumued presence Is causmg three problems, he sad. "The first problem IS If people dont feed lhc ducks every day, they're gomg to die." McFar- land said. "The second problem IS If the weather conditions do detenorateduring the wmlcr, and we get a miserable stretch of AOC weather. wdre going to have a lot of frozen dead ducks" "The third problem is having the ducks here all year-round does nothmg but decrease the quality of the water In the entire Laurel Creek system," McFarland said, "The system needs a time when there isn't duck poop floating m u to recover." Trushinski said that he too felt the increased number of year-round waterfowl m the my um causmg major problems for local waterways "whim Hook at Silver Lake. Columbu Luke and the Laurel Creek Reservoir. and look at the amount of waterfowl in them, the water quality Don't feed the ducks: City 80r(ingRrri%uth,WaaMoo 8189200 . 'rittknrge's Squmhudph 82rC9tQ. KiouJiiiiittfijiikY W196 Can-m my Tim Gardner ( hu'nu [K stall fadin Jeweller d (lit Year lf)i' sampling that we re domg through the [Aurel C reek watershed study IS >how1ng that bacteria levels are extremely high Tt Truahmskl said "lheyrt wen very lugh because ducks do mutt- rallv defaults And that?, what happens t Although rrudunslu and there were other lac, tory contnbulmg to the hrgh bacteru levels In the Laurel ( reek watershed. waterfowl fece, In the water Wats d major iactor And McFarland mild If the public stopped feedrng the ducks, lewer ol than would hang around the mu sirttattts and lakes. pamcularly In the yslttter, sud water quahty would Improve as a result McFarland also pomted out that when tbe publrc feeds u. atedowl such (lungs as bread And the bread doesnt gel calm nghl dwav and smks to the bottom of .1 pond only [a get eaten las waterfowl later LHt, the puhhc isnt dmng G. birds any lasour, Che bread spmls, becomes coruammatcd wllh waterfowl leces and other contaminants and causes botulesm m waterfowl when the birds finally do eat n A bolullsm outbreak on mixer Lake In thc summer of 1995 lulled 350 waterfowl, largely because the public kept feeding the waierfossl, McFarland said, Both McFarland and Trushmskl also sud that if the public did stop leedmg the ducks dunng the wmler. the ducks would not starve as a result, Most would naturally rmgrate sourh whlle those that remained would be able to find enough natural food and vegeratron to easdy sumve. However Trushinsku said my offrcrals may soon have to consider killing some of us mun- fowl populanon in order to preserve the mom quality In the Laurel Creek watershed. " don't know If we're there yet" he sod. “(Bull it's an Issue that inevitably will have In he addressed al some point m mm: " -------""e._'. co -