The Chester River Association (CRA) has long had an effective program for monitoring nutrients and dissolved oxygen in the Chester River and its tributaries but many of our members have also recently been asking: is it safe to swim in the river? While Kent and Queen Anne’s County Health Departments normally test the water at the public beaches, many of our questions come from people concerned about people swimming, tubing or water skiing in other locations along the river.
With this in mind, CRA through the assistance of Washington College has recently launched a program to collect and test river water samples for bacteria and to share the results with the public. The most common type of waterborne infection comes from fecal bacteria from human and animal waste and although this infection is not usually life threatening it can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms as well as skin infections. The best indicator for this kind of contamination is a test for enterococci bacteria and EPA has determined that levels of these bacteria at or below 104 colonies per 100 milliliters of water are safe for swimming.
The above map shows the results of our most recent test (August 15, 2012). Note that the Blue marker indicates a safe level for swimming while a Yellow marker recommends against swimming at this time. In addition, it should be emphasized that these levels can vary over time and EPA recommends that special precautions should be taken under the following conditions:
- Don’t swim within 48 hours of a heavy rainstorm.
- Wash off with soap and water when you come out of the river.
- Don’t swim where there are posted beach closings or advisories.
- Don’t swim if you have open cuts, sores or scratches.
- If you have an impaired immune system or disease, check with your doctor about swimming in the river.
CRA plans to continue testing each week throughout the summer and normally these samples will be collected on Wednesdays and the results will be made available the following Friday. For information about CRA please see our website: www.chesterriverassociation.org and for further information regarding these bacteria tests along the Chester River please contact David Foster at [email protected].
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