GOLDEN, Colo. — A rainbow of tubes filled Clear Creak on Labor Day as those of all ages traveled from near and far to make a splash in the water. The sight is not uncommon during the summer months.
"I think it's not surprising. It's Labor Day weekend, it’s Labor Day itself. There are a lot of people coming out for a beautiful day in Colorado to enjoy what is a natural environment. And whenever you can have people out enjoying a natural environment, it's a pretty special thing," said John Spear, an environmental microbiologist and professor at Colorado School of Mines.
The sight of tubers inspired a team from the Colorado School of Mines to come together and work with researchers at Johns Hopkins University to collect river samples and see the impact recreational activities have on the stream.
"This new study, we brought a team together of geomicrobiologists, folks that are good at analyzing metals and people that can look at the kinds of chemicals you might expect from pharmaceuticals, personal care products," said James Ranville, a chemistry professor at Colorado School of Mines.
The researchers headed to Clear Creek on a "summer holiday weekend when a large influx of recreational float tubing activity occurred" and took several water samples. The study found several specific compounds were left behind by people using the river.
"Coming out of people's bodies are what we call the metabolites. And so, you can have pee. You can have poop," Spear explained. "Essentially, what I just described are foods coming out and changing the microbiome, but the metabolites can reflect things like antidepressants, birth control, cocaine, THC. These are the sort of things that are coming out of people's bodies as they're tubing and we can actually quantify that."
Their research also found concentrations of eight metals that could be washed down from the mountains and stirred up by people in the water.
"We found elevated particulate lead and copper and zinc when people are recreating in the stream," said Carmen Villarruel, PhD candidate at Colorado School of Mines. "That's not terribly surprising. We know we have a history of legacy mining in that area."
Those enjoying the river on Labor Day, like Rob Skoretz and Marty Frye, were not entirely shocked by these findings, but rather disappointed by how the nature of the river is changing.
"I just have to say because I was out here 30-plus years ago, and the natural beauty, the natural state was just amazing for me. It’s what brought me back 10 years ago," said Skoretz.
Turning towards the future, researchers hope their findings and data will help river management and inspire the community to be aware of the impact they are having when they float the stream.
"Get out and enjoy Golden, but we have funneled a lot of people into a small area, and so we just need to see how we responsibly promote these activities we all want to do while being cognizant [of] our impact," said Ranville.
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