This is the second incident in 15 months where fish have died or otherwise been affected at the OSU laboratory. In December of 1998, several thousand rainbow trout at the facility died within a 48-hour period. Researchers concluded the 98-percent mortali ty rate was caused by an unknown contaminant passing through the system. The 1998 contaminant could not have come from the trout food, Bailey said, because trout of all ages died, including those too young to be fed. Therefore, we think it can only have come through the water supply.
Water is supplied to the area by a shallow aquifer, which has never been mapped.
Fortunately, Bailey said, another nearby OSU fish research facility has suffered no problems from its water supply. That facility gets its water from the same general aquifer a mile away. Bailey says it is possible that the recently discovered cancerous tumors were caused by months of exposure to a lower dose of the same toxic agent in the water. These tumors could not be detected earlier, he pointed out, because they take about nine mont hs to develop. Tests just confirmed the tumors to be cancerous.