By Brian Balboa
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

Courtney Beacham, 7, cools off in the fountain at the Kemah Boardwalk.
photo by Jennifer Glass

The Kemah Boardwalk is supposed to attract fun and tourists, but last month the boardwalk's fountain attracted anger and suspicion from one League City mother.

In late September, League City resident Karen Taylor took her 16-month-old daughter to visit the boardwalk's water fountain. Soon afterward, Taylor took her daughter to be treated for a staph infection near her eyes.

Taylor was told by hospital staff that the fountain was probably responsible for her child's illness, but Galveston County health officials tested the water and found it safe.

In October, Taylor e-mailed family, friends and other acquaintances about her ordeal. In the e-mail, Taylor said a biopsy could not be performed on the infected area of her child. Because of that, Taylor had to wait 24 hours to see if her daughter would respond positively to antibiotics.

Taylor's e-mail also stated that while she was at St. John's and Texas Children's Hospital, several hospital staff indicated that a 'rash' of children had been treated for eye and ear infections, which they believed were directly related to the fountain.

Taylor's e-mail eventually found its way to local media outlets and health departments in and around Houston. A UHCLIDIAN staff member contacted Taylor after receiving the e-mail from a third party. Taylor's only response was, "I have no comment."

"My department has not received any official complaints regarding this fountain for several years," said Martin Entringer, director of environmental and consumer health for the Galveston County Health District. "We look at the fountain about once each year or when a complaint is received. The last time was a couple of weeks ago when the staph complaint got to my department from a third party e-mail. The water showed a good chlorine residual at that time."

Another water sample was taken for testing by a UHCLIDIAN staff member. That sample also found nothing unusual.

"It [the water] seems within normal ranges for swimming pools," said Pamela Groves, UH-Clear Lake environmental health and safety officer. "It would be nice to determine how often they test the chlorine and how they add the chlorine. When there is high use, it needs to be tested frequently."

Groves said she did not think the water was infected with staph. Instead, Groves said she believed it would be a person-to-person transmission that may have caused the staph infection.

"This isn't horrible water," Groves said. "If there are people that are out water skiing and jumping around in the Gulf, they are in much worse water than this."

"We use a complex filtration and chlorination system," said Steve Scheinthal, executive vice president of the complex and owner of Landry's Seafood Restaurants. "The water and systems are checked daily by boardwalk personnel and bi-weekly by an outside company."

Scheinthal also said that business has not been hurt by the rumors and there has not been any other contact from Taylor since her complaint. UH-Clear Lake education student, Adriana Briones, was among the many people who received the Taylor e-mail from a third party.

"My first reaction was that I was shocked and scared because I have small children of my own," said Briones. "It's scary because [the water] gets in their eyes and mouth."

Briones said her children enjoy playing at the Kemah fountain. After reading the e-mail and talking to her mother about it, Briones initially decided not to take her children to the boardwalk ever again. Upon learning that the water did not pose a health threat, Briones changed her stance.

Briones said she plans to visit the Kemah Boardwalk with her children again. In addition, Briones said she believes the accusations will pass and people will continue to visit the boardwalk.

"In the summertime it gets so packed with people," Briones said. "I think people are going to bring their kids there regardless because there's other things they can do besides the fountain."

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