With Labor Day weekend marking the unofficial end of summer, so too does the Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance's (SeVWA's) river monitoring program come to an end for the 2013 season.
There were 24 river and stream sites that SeVWA monitored this season in the West River and Williams River watersheds and along the Saxtons River and Whetstone Brook.
Aug. 28 was SeVWA's sixth and final monitoring day of the 2013 season, and tests showed all but one swimming hole well below the Vermont and EPA standard for swimming suitability: 235 E. coli per 100 milliliters of water.
Compared to the Aug. 14 tests, where heavy rain skewed the results and showed nearly every swimming spot above the 235 maximum, the weather was tranquil prior to last week's testing. As a result, water quality this time around was greatly improved.
In general, SeVWA recommends waiting 24-48 hours after a significant rain before swimming in local streams and rivers.
On the West River, E. coli levels at Milk House Meadows in Brattleboro fell from 649 on Aug. 14 to 73 on Aug. 28, while the swimming hole below the Dummerston Covered Bridge went from 345 to 78, and the Brookline Bridge swimming hole dropped from 388 to 53.
In Londonderry, a sample taken from below Mountain Marketplace showed the most dramatic drop: from 817 on the 14th to 30 on the 28th.
Indian Love Call, on the Rock River in Newfane, went from 126 to 16; Pikes Falls in Jamaica dropped from 140 down to 2.
The Whetstone Brook behind the former site of the Brattleboro Food Co-op went from 261 on Aug. 14 down to 194 two weeks later.
Every site on the Williams River but one was below the 235 standard. The lone exception was in Chester, just above where the Middle Branch meets the Williams, which had a reading of 273. Golden Hill Road in Rockingham was lowest, at 105.
On the Saxtons River, Sandy Beach in Westminster saw a sharp drop, from 1,120 on Aug. 14 to 156 on Aug. 31. Two others Saxtons River sites - below the wastewater treatment plant (75) and at Stickney Field (22) - were both sharply lower than two weeks earlier.
SeVWA's water quality monitoring program is supported by SeVWA volunteers, members, and donors, including Chroma Technology Group, Village Square Booksellers, Rock River Preservation, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's LaRosa Environmental Testing Laboratory, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and the Connecticut River Watershed Council.