News

Sound Rivers’ Riverkeeping team was in the field last week, collecting data on a Swim Guide site that has failed to meet the EPA’s recreational water-quality standards for a number of weeks.

Last Thursday, Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, Water-Quality Specialist Taylor Register and water-quality intern Avalon Rosenberg set out on Sound Rivers’ new Bay Rider boat (which you can help name HERE!), to investigate.

“That Maple Cypress boat access was repeatedly failing was more of an unusual red flag for us, since Maple Cypress has historically been one of our cleaner sites along the Neuse, and the numbers we were seeing were definitely on the high side,” Taylor said. “So, once we hit three consecutive weeks of failing results, that prompted a thorough investigation on our end.”

The team prepared for site visit by looking at satellite imagery and CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) maps to try to pin down potential sources of the bacteria.

“We ended up with six sites along this stretch of the Neuse, which included the boat ramp and upstream/downstream samples of any tributaries that fed into the river above our Swim Guide site,” Taylor said. “We identified a handful of swine CAFOs as potential sources, especially since this area is pretty rural, and there’s not much along the river aside from farm land and agricultural facilities.”

Last week’s sampling run consisted of collecting six E. coli samples and taking YSI readings from our previously identified sites, and one DNA sample at the boat ramp.

The results, however, were inconclusive.

“All of our samples came back well below the EPA’s threshold for E. coli, and we were not able to determine a source from this sampling run because of that,” Taylor said. “Of course, it’s a good thing that bacteria levels have returned back to normal, but it’s still a bit of a bummer that we weren’t able to pin down what was causing it in the first place.”

The DNA samples taken at the boat ramp will be returned in a few weeks.

“The idea with the DNA sample is to confirm which species the E. coli is coming from, mainly between swine and human, since that will determine our next steps with this investigation,” she said.

Should E. coli levels ramp up again at the Maple Cypress site, the team now has a sampling procedure in place.

“If it happens again this summer, we can respond almost immediately and get some insight on what’s going on out here,” Taylor said.

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