This past Wednesday, July 30th, marked the fourth sampling day of the season for river monitoring by Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA). Earlier in the week heavy rains and thunderstorms brought severe flooding to some towns in our sampling region which includes the West, Williams, and Saxtons rivers as well as North Branch Brook, Rock River, and the Whetstone Brook.
August is vacation month and as everyone prepares to head to new or traditional vacation places, please think about how you can help to maintain healthy waterways. Some of these ways are complying with boating laws and regulations, carrying out all trash, and making sure harsh chemicals are disposed of properly. Also, checking boating equipment for aquatic invasive species helps to prevent the spread of non-native plants and animals into waterways. Think about the steps of CLEAN, DRAIN and DRY as you recreate on waterbodies or move your activities from one waterbody to another. Taking these steps will help prevent the transport of invasive aquatic species from one waterbody to another.
Despite all the rain, vacation plans and everyday busy schedules, our volunteers reliably collect water samples for SeVWA throughout the summer. We are very grateful to all of our volunteers for their efforts. Their involvement helps to ensure that the program can continue.Please post the attached E. coli results charts in your communities where swimmers and other recreational users of our local rivers will see them. Also, please submit the chart and this commentary to local news publications for posting/publishing and provide to your town’s conservation commission or other conservation-minded groups.
E. coli results and accompanying commentaries will appear at www.ibrattleboro.com (Nature section) every 2 weeks throughout the monitoring season. This monitoring program receives support from VT Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC), VT DEC LaRosa Environmental Lab, Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC) and SeVWA volunteers, members, and donors – including Rock River Preservation. For more information about SeVWA’s monitoring program and other Connecticut River watershed water quality and recreational information, please visit www.ctriver.us.
The SeVWA river monitoring program exists through the generosity of supporters who value the monitoring and stewardship of our region’s waterways. If you are one of those people – or would like to be – your gift to support the continuation of the program would be appreciated. SeVWA is a nonprofit organization. Donations can be mailed to: SeVWA, Secretary, P.O. Box 402, Brattleboro, VT 05302. For more information about making a contribution please email Gloria Cristelli, SeVWA Board of Directors (president), at sevwa.mail@gmail.com.
This information is provided by SeVWA Water Quality Monitoring Program (sevwa.volunteer@gmail.com).
