WSSC Water Quality Monitoring


Here are the first round of results of WSSC's fecal bacteria monitoring tests which are required by the consent decree. Curiously, the WSSC found no trace of human derived Enterococci bacteria at any of their test sites. The two Sligo Creek sites had the 4th and 6th most Enterococci bacteria of the 40 tested sites. These results are from this WSSC report.

March 28, 2007

 The Maryland state standards for Enterococci bacteria:
All Areas: 33
Frequent Full Body Contact Recreation:61
Moderately Frequent Full Body Contact Recreation:78
Occasional Frequent Full Body Contact Recreation:107
Infrequent Full Body Contact Recreation:151
All numbers are counts per 100 milliliters
Stream SiteFecal Bacteria Results
Enterococcus CFU/100mL		Bacterial Source Testing
HumanAvianCanineDeerHorseMiscellaneous WildlifeNon-human Unknown
1). Muddy Branch
(downstream)		<100%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
1). Rock Creek
(downstream)		<100%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
1). Seneca Creek
(downstream)		<10
(<10)		0%
(0%)		Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
1). Watts Branch
(downstream)		<100%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
1). Watts Branch
(upstream)		<100%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
6). Little Falls
(downstream)		130%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
7). Piscataway
(upstream)		160%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
8). Parkway
(upstream-Walker Branch)		190%Too few bacteria for non-human bacteria source determination
9). Cabin John Creek
(downstream)		220%36%13%26%25%
10). Northwest Branch
(downstream)		240%25%22%8%26% 19%
11). Indian Creek
(upstream)		250%35%9%42% 14%
12). Lower Beaverdam Creek
(upstream)		290%21%16%43% 20%
13). Broad Creek
(downstream)		300%29%12%9%27%23%
13). Little Falls
(upstream)		300%26%9%11%44% 10%
13). Piscataway
(downstream)		300%29%20%38%13%
16). Lower Beaverdam Creek
(downstream)		320%18%6%12%34% 30%
16). Northwest Branch
(upstream)		32
(31)		0%37%
(34%)		21%
(23%)		30%
(33%)		 12%
(10%)
18). Paint Branch
(upstream)		370%28%4%23%33% 12%
19). Indian Creek
(downstream)		390%26%11%15%17%21% 10%
20). Western Branch
(upstream)		400%34%17%32%17%
21). Lower Anacostia
(upstream)		440%41%9%33% 17%
22). Lower Anacostia
(downstream)		450%35%7%11%27% 20%
23). Cabin John Creek
(upstream)		460%41%16%32%11%
23). Seneca Creek
(upstream)		460%28%18%42%12%
25). Broad Creek
(upstream)		470%37%17%13%14%19%
26). Upper Beaverdam Creek
(upstream)		480%26%6%17%33% 18%
27). Muddy Branch
(upstream)		510%32%6%8%30% 24%
28). Western Branch
(downstream)		520%47%5%6%27% 15%
29). Paint Branch
(downstream)		53
(51)		0%
(0%)		26%
(24%)		17%
(16%)		21%
(25%)		23%
(19%)		 13%
(16%)
30). Oxon Run
(downstream)		570%21%4%11%47% 17%
31). Northeast Branch
(downstream)		620%27%6%17%33% 17%
32). Northeast Branch
(upstream)		700%36%13%17%32% 19%
33). Upper Beaverdam Creek
(downstream)		810%32%23%31%14%
34). Parkway
(downstream-Bear Branch)		1030%24%17%15%31% 13%
35). Sligo Creek
(downstream)		113
(106)		0%
(0%)		21%
(23%)		24%
(26%)		7%
(8%)		31%
(30%)		 17%
(13%)
36). Horsepen
(upstream)		1340%24%6%9%14%29% 18%
37). Sligo Creek
(upstream)		1790%30%6%19%33% 12%
38). Oxon Run
(upstream-Watts Branch)		185
(181)		0%24%
(22%)		14%
(16%)		9%
(11%)		40%
(39%)		 13%
(12%)
39). Rock Creek
(upstream)		2440%21%23%39%17%
40). Horsepen
(downstream)		920
(896)		0%33%12%8%21%20% 6%
Numbers in parentheses() are results for field duplicate samples.