A new study from the University of Guelph, has re-ignited a long standing controversy into the role agriculture plays in polluting Lake Huron beaches.
The two year study used DNA samples to track and identify the E coli bacteria in the lake.
It found livestock and poultry manure accounts for roughly two thirds of E. coli measured in the rural watershed of Eighteen Mile River.
The small stream straddles the border between Huron and Bruce Counties and the researchers also took water samples were also taken at nearby Ashfield Township Park beach.
Professor Jack Trevors was one of the researchers.
He tells Bayshore Broadcasting News their research showed that about 60 per cent of E. coli came from agriculture, almost 10 per cent from wildlife, about 2.5 per cent from humans and about 9.7 per cent from unknown sources.
Trevors says the purpose of their research was not to trace the bacteria back to individual farms but to just find out what sectors of the community were putting E coli into the water shed.
He says the Ministry of the Environment wanted to find out of DNA could be used to accurately trace E coli strains to where they originated, and this study shows that it can be done.