Little Lagoon Preservation Society (LLPS) invites members and the general public to attend a quarterly membership meeting Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., at the Adult Activity Center in Gulf Shores.

The first 30 minutes is an opportunity to mingle and enjoy refreshments with LLPS members, officers, guest speakers, and the general public.  Featured guest speaker, Dr. Alice C. Ortmann, will present “Identifying potential sources of fecal coliforms in Little Lagoon.”  During the two years that the LLPS has been helping scientists at DISL monitor Little Lagoon, it became clear that the number of fecal coliforms present in the water was sometimes very high.

These peaks did not match with other water quality measures, thus their source is not clear.  In order to identify the potential sources of the fecal coliforms, Dr. Alice Ortmann’s research group is using DNA to fingerprint and identify these communities in order to determine where they might be coming from.

They have begun sampling the water around Little Lagoon and will be collecting samples from potential source locations (water, sediment and feces).  Each sample will be used to generate a DNA fingerprint which can be compared to possible sources.  Using other techniques, they will identify whether the fecal coliforms are most similar to those found in humans, dogs, cows or other animals. 

The preliminary data suggests that there is a single source of fecal coliforms in the lagoon, but the next step will be to try and identify this source.

Other topics to be discussed following our guest speaker include: A brief review of new LLPS website ( www.littlelagoon.org ); update on bridge replacement plan at Lagoon Pass; and an update on efforts to have Little Lagoon designated as Geographical Area of Particular Concern (GAPC).