September 30, 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 (*).
Weather past 24 hours: showers
Watson Park – 178.5
West Hartford bridge – 238.2*
Mouth of Mill Brook – 25.6
White Brook – 172.3
VLS parking lot – 178.5
Bethel below tx – 142.1
Bethel above tx – 88.2
Mouth of Locust Creek – 9.8
Silver Lake – no data
Gaysville Bridge – 74.8
Tweed at South Hill Road – 14.5
Lion’s Club Park – 38.8
Hancock Branch – 83.6
Cilley Bridge – 108.6
Chelsea Rec Park – 59.1
Dugout Road – 218.7
East Hill Road – 59.1
Stock Farm Road – 88.0
Golf Course Bridge – 93.3
Ayers Brook – 160.7
Adams Brook – 14.8
Thresher Road – 18.5
For more information about water quality monitoring, check out our Program page.
For all summer 2010 E. coli numbers, check out this data sheet: