Huntington River Water Quality Samplers Needed

Huntington River Volunteer Water Quality Samplers Needed!

It’s time again to begin sampling the water quality of the Huntington River within Huntington and
Richmond. Your help is needed !

Sampling starts on June 27th!
As in past years, we will be sampling on Tuesday mornings. You can sign up for as many sites/dates as
you wish and are available.
Samples need to be taken on Tuesday morning and delivered to one of our two drop off sites:
1)The cooler at: 549 Bridge Street, Huntington VT by 8:00 AM. (across from the tree farm) A cooler will
be placed in the breezeway for your convenience. In addition you can pick up the next weeks bottles,
and you will get to meet the new team member helping to coordinate activities: Corrina Parnapy.
2) A volunteer will be available for drop off of samples between 7:00am and 7:45am in Richmond at the
Volunteer Green.
We will provide information on sample bottle pickup and additional information shortly. To help stay
informed, please feel free to email corrina@winooskinrcd.org with any questions. This will insure that
you receive valuable updates, interesting information on Huntington River water quality issues and
more.
To sign up to sample: Visit www.huntingtonriver.org and click on the Volunteer Info link, and from
there the Volunteer Sign-Up. Put your name in the date/site slot(s) you can sample. Yellow slots are for
“duplicate” samples, at these locations/dates simply take two samples so the lab can do quality
assurance checks.
Note- there are descriptions of the sample sites and a map at the “Sample Sites” link, and on the
Volunteer page there is a short video with information about how to take a sample.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions, I’ll be glad to help out.
Thank you for your continued dedication and partnership. This project would not be possible without
your assistance.
All the best,
Corrina Parnapy
District Manager
Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District
corrina@winooskinrcd.org
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E.coli information: The State of Vermont updated health recommendations to correspond to the EPA risk standard. The EPA standard states that a single sample of 235 (organisms/ml of water) or greater is an unacceptable risk for swimming. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing revised water quality standards that follow the EPA standard.
 Geometric (multiple samples over time) mean of 126 – Value corresponding to the 95% likelihood that there could be a detectable increase in the background illness rate for swimmers associated with contact.
 Single Sample value of 235: –value corresponding to a 75% certainty that the threshold of swimming risk may be surpassed on any given day.
 Single Sample value of 410: –value corresponding to a 95% certainty that the threshold of swimming risk may be surpassed on any given day.
AND REMEMBER- e.coli counts can change rapidly in rivers and lakes depending on many variables. Data suggests the Huntington River is most susceptible to high e.coli bacteria counts immediately following periods of rainfall resulting in increased runoff.
Use your judgment. Our current recommendations- if the water appears high or cloudy, or if it has rained much in the last 2 days, use caution or avoid swimming.