SeVWA’s 2015 E. coli Monitoring of Local River Sites Continued August 12th

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) had its fifth monitoring day for the summer of 2015 on Wednesday, August 12th. All of our sites, as well as much of the Northeast, received a soaking rain the day prior to sampling and only one of our sites tested below the “suitability for swimming” standard set by Vermont and the EPA. It is generally recommended to wait 24-48 hours after a significant rainfall to resume swimming in lakes and streams, so keep that in mind when making weekend plans on the water.

Some water quality issues affecting our rivers are episodic and only appear when certain weather or streamflow conditions exist. For example, one of our volunteers collecting samples noticed that the lower sites on the Saxtons River seemed unusually cloudy on Wednesday morning. This cloudiness can most likely be attributed to sediment from a mass failure upstream – or, more commonly understood as, dirt coming from a landslide upstream. Had it not been a scheduled sampling day, however, we may have not noticed this issue and know to keep an eye out for it in the future. If you see something that you think might be a water quality issue, please get in touch with us. If we already know about it, we may be able to provide more information or put you in touch with someone else who can. If we didn’t know about it, we will be very grateful for your valuable tip! Our contact information can be found below.

SeVWA’s water quality monitoring program is supported by SeVWA volunteers, members and donors, including Robert Fritz, Inc, Rock River Preservation, Elaine Lambert Living Trust, State of VT Department of Environmental Conservation’s LaRosa Environmental Testing Laboratory, & Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC).

E. coli results charts and accompanying commentaries will appear at www.ibrattleboro.com (Nature section) every 2 weeks through the monitoring season. For more information about SeVWA’s monitoring program sites and results and other Connecticut River watershed water quality and recreational information, please visit www.ctriver.us.

Thanks again for all you do to support SeVWA’s monitoring program and for your interest.

This information is provided by Ryan O’Donnell, SeVWA WQMP Coordinator and Chris Yurek, SeVWA 2015 intern (sevwa.volunteer@gmail.com).

SeVWA website – https://sites.google.com/site/vtsevwa/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/SeVWA