Volunteers test Vermont waters to see if they’re safe

Every Wednesday morning volunteers around Springfield venture to a local waterbody and dip their sampling cups. 

The eight-person squad is from the Black River Action Team, one of about 30 partner groups that collect water samples for the state through a program at the Department of Environmental Conservation. 

The groups sample rivers, lakes and streams across Vermont from mid-April through the start of August, using kits from the state to look for nutrient and road salt levels. They send those samples for testing, and officials put out data with results around wintertime. 

But the program is focused only on broad water health — so some groups have stepped up to test for swimming health in popular summer spots.

With their own kits, groups like the Black River team measure E. coli bacteria levels, the marker used by the Environmental Protection Agency to measure how safe water is to swim in.

Across 10 sampling sites, the Black River group tests water twice as often as required by the program, the LaRosa Partnership Program, and measures for the bacteria in popular swim spots like Buttermilk Falls in Ludlow, said group director Kelly Stettner. 

The idea is “getting people paying attention to what’s going on in their community and on the stream or the river,” Stettner said. 

Her group created “an adopt-a-river or adopt-a-swimming-hole program” with sponsors donating $500 a year to cover the extra testing, Stettner said. Most are local businesses, but Vail Resorts, which owns Stowe Mountain, Mount Snow and Okemo Mountain ski resorts, has sponsored work at Buttermilk Falls for 12 years, she said.

At some popular spots Black River volunteers print and post test results at nearby information booths, in addition to posting them online. They also reach out to town managers and health officers with results, especially if levels are too high, said Stettner. 

The White River Partnership, another state partner, can test for E. coli because it has a lab of its own, said Daniel Ruddell, the group’s resident scientist. The group tests 22 sites every other week, sharing results online and with an email list.

But even those results are limited by the group’s bi-weekly testing schedule. “It’s not going to tell you what the current conditions are,” said Ruddell. 

And the testing hasn’t been easy to pay for, he said. The group has persuaded private foundations to pay for a few years, but “finding long-term, stable funding sources for water quality is pretty challenging,” he said. 

The state considers 67 waterbodies impaired for swimming or other recreation in the water, according to two Department of Environmental Conservation reports from 2022. 

A waterbody might be impaired because of farm runoff sending too many nutrients its way. Or it could be contaminated by nearby hazardous waste sites and failed septic systems. Water with elevated E. coli or asbestos can earn an impaired designation, too. The environmental conservation department uses data from the LaRosa program to monitor and identify impaired waters. 

Historic rainfall brought on by Hurricane Beryl and other recent storms has only elevated threats to water safety. The Department of Health advises people to stay out of bodies of water for at least 48 hours after heavy rain and longer if an area has flooded. 

“As these floods come through they bring not just water but sediment, gravel, rocks, trees, garbage,” said Stettner from the Black River team. 

In the short term, the White River Partnership has seen a rise in bacteria — with 13 of its 22 sites exceeding healthy swimming limits in late July.

A first review of 2023 data from all of the LaRosa project sites shows a rise in pollutants following major floods, said Meaghan Hickey, program coordinator. 

Sampling by the groups, Hickey said, “provides reliable data that contribute to our overall understanding of the variations in water quality conditions in Vermont rivers and streams.”

The LaRosa program doesn’t collect E. coli samples “due to the logistical challenges it poses as part of a large, widespread volunteer monitoring effort,” said Hickey, later explaining, “E. coli samples must be analyzed within a few hours of collection.” 

Other partners, like the Lewis Creek Association and the Missisquoi River Basin Association, don’t test for bacteria because they only have the state’s resources. 

Neither of those groups has a sponsor or access to a lab other than the state’s. The Lewis Creek group gets by on a couple thousand dollars a year from the towns of Charlotte, Shelburne and Hinesburg to pay its directors a small sum, said program manager Kate Kelly. Praise from officials has been appreciated, but the group has struggled in recent years to find funding and rally volunteers. 

The Missisquoi group only has one intern to help coordinator Sarah Lunn, she said. The two cover 19 testing sites every other week from Swanton to Lowell. 

Outside the partner program, the state parks system tests water quality in park swimming areas weekly and posts the results. Beaches along Lake Champlain are also tested regularly for swimmability by a number of municipalities, but how often tests happen depends on the town. The Department of Health, which sells testing kits for people to use themselves, recommends testing recreational areas at least once a week Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Despite the challenges, partners in the LaRosa program seem like they’re rewarded by their work and make it fun. “I have them take stream selfies so they have pictures of themselves taking samples, hopefully,” said Stettner.

She added: “People get a sense that their work, their volunteer hours, really mean something.”

(Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship.)