Etowah River Bacteria Monitoring comes up 'safe' again this week

 

 

Please see CRBI's Etowah River bacteria monitoring graph for Aug. 24. The geometric mean for our three testing sites was 68.5 cfu/100ml

 

Here are the results from the individual testing sites:  

 

	8/24/2011 Water Temp. 24 C No Rain since Aug. 6
Second Ave.	47.3 cfu/100ml
Rome Bypass	52.9 cfu/100ml
US 411	128.7 cfu/100ml
Geometric Mean:	68.54 cfu/100ml

 

Since CRBI began this testing program in March, the geometric mean of the three testing sites has been within "safe limits" in 19 of 22 monitoring events. The continued lack of rain reduces the likelihood of high bacteria levels. Bacteria levels in streams and rivers usually become elevated after heavy rains when pollutants wash off the surface of the land and when sewer overflows and leaking sewer systems are more likely.