August 25 E.coli results

August 25, 2010

Every other Wednesday from June through September, WRP volunteers test for E. coli bacteria at sites along the White River and its major tributaries. E. coli is a type of bacteria that lives in the intestines of all warm-blooded animals. E. coli is easy to test for, and is therefore used as an indicator for other disease-causing bacteria in the water. In other words, a high E. coli count reveals that a variety of disease-causing bacteria from numerous sources (leaking septic systems, animal waste, etc) are in the water and could make people sick.

The EPA “swimmable” standard is 235 colonies/100 mL sample. Sites exceeding the EPA standard are marked with an asterisk (*).

August 25 E. coli data

Weather past 24 hours: partly sunny

Main stem sites

Watson Park – 45.9
West Hartford bridge – no data
Mouth of Mill Brook – 2.0
White Brook – 201.4
VLS parking lot – 32.8
Bethel below tx – 52.8
Bethel above tx – 25.3
Mouth of Locust Creek – 22.1
Silver Lake – 3.1
Gaysville Bridge – 47.4
Tweed at South Hill Road – 15.8
Lion’s Club Park – 35.5
Hancock Branch – 36.8

First Branch sites

Cilley Bridge – 62.7
Chelsea Rec Park – 35.0

Second Branch sites

Dugout Road – 77.6
East Hill Road – 98.7

Third Branch Sites

Stock Farm Road – 65.7
Golf Course Bridge – 74.3
Ayers Brook – 201.4
Adams Brook – 25.3
Thresher Road – 8.6

For more information about water quality monitoring, check out our Program page.

For all summer 2010 E. coli numbers, check out this data sheet:

2010_E.coli_data_.pdf