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Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop returned to collect water samples at Eno River this week, and this time she had an audience: Frog Hollow Outdoor Center founder Banks Dixon, Frog Hollow river guide Stephen Mullaney, and Christine Fantini and Tori Velasquez with the Eno River Association.

“Basically, we are working on collaborating on a volunteer sampling team that can sample the Eno River,” Samantha said. “This is going to fill a gap in our Swim Guide and there’s been overwhelming support from the Durham community in the aftermath of Chantal to have more water-quality sampling and eyes on the Eno.”

Samantha said a few things aligned to facilitate the mini-Water Watch training: she received a call from the Frog Hollow founder Banks expressing appreciation for Samantha’s Eno River water-quality testing in the wake of tropical depression Chantal’s historic flooding, then she ran into river guide Stephen while she was out sampling the Eno, while in the same timeframe, Eno River Association reached out to express interest in starting a water-quality program.

“So, I met up with them and we went over sampling protocol for E. coli, our process and methodology, and measuring turbidity,” Samantha said. “We also had a quick and dirty overview of our Water Watch program: what to look for, indicators of a healthy versus unhealthy waterways and basically how to do a sight assessment of stream health.”

Samantha said the partnership is a win-win for Eno River lovers and Sound Rivers.

“It’s clear that these people, and Durham community, really value the Eno River,” Samantha said. “And we’re really excited to expand our sampling reach to more stretches of the Eno, which we recognize is a well-loved tributary of the Neuse, and an area that we’ve historically had gaps in the sampling coverage.”

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