NOVEMBER 2011 WATER QUALITY MAP

What does the map mean?

The blue color represents river reaches that met the E. coli swimming standard of 126 colony forming units per 100 milliliters (about a teacup of water) (#/100ml). Yellow represents the reaches of the river that exceeded the swimming standard yet met the boating standard of 630/100ml. A violation of the boating standard is represented by the red color. Finally, any reaches of the river colored gray represent non-sampled areas.

Standards are set by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to indicate level of health risk in freshwaters.  MassDEP recommends not swimming or fishing when the geometric mean of bacteria counts exceed 126/100ml, and not boating on days when the geometric mean of levels rise above 630/100ml.

See table of results.

Mapping capabilities made possible due to support from:

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