by Geoff Fox
The Town of Hancock has added testing water drawn from the Potomac River to assist the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper in monitoring bacteria in the river.
According to a post on Upper Potomac River Keeper’s social media, the testing is to monitor e.coli in the Potomac.
This is the first time the town has done the testing, said Town Manager Mike Faith.
Faith said the group primarily goes south of Hancock on the river and had sent someone to do the testing here, however there aren’t enough volunteers right now, so they haven’t been able to run the tests from Hancock.
After the last town council meeting, Councilman Josh McCusker brought the idea up for the town to do the testing instead.
With the town already paying for testing the drinking water and wastewater, officials agreed to test for e.coli by taking samples from the river.
There have been some concerns about the cleanliness of the Potomac after major flooding hit cities upriver of Hancock, pushing raw sewage and other discharges into the waterway.
Faith said he got the report for the river back and sent it to Upper Potomac Riverkeeper, who in turned reported it on their social media outlets.
“So we’ll start doing that every week,” Faith said. “That’s the plan.”
Faith said once the town gets their reports back, he’d share the town’s findings with the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper.
He added the town is not making a recommendation whether the river is safe to use or not, just that the state is at one number and the town is at a lower number.
The state’s number is 410 MPN, or most probable number, whereas the town’s number is 32.7 MPN.
Comparatively, recent tests had Wilson Bridge at 1986.3 MPN, Williamsport Park at 1553.1 MPN, and Big Slackwater Boat Ramp at 816.4 MPN with the highest.
Aside from Hancock’s low number, only Devils Backbone and Pinecliff Park were below 100 MPN for samples taken July 16.
Buckeystown Park and Creagerstown Park did not have a sample taken that week.
Faith said Hancock would possibly be added to the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper’s social media graphic in the coming weeks.
The town’s social media page shared the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper’s post with Hancock’s reading.
Faith said the town was trying to inform people who use the boat ramp so they can make an informed decision for their recreational activities.
“We’re only testing the water on the edge,” he said. “We’re not going out in a boat, so it doesn’t represent the health of the whole river.”
In an email to Faith, and supplied to The Hancock News, Brent Walls, who is in charge of the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper, said the river in the Hancock area “has always been good” but noted there has been “so much rain” this year.
The Upper Potomac Riverkeeper has an IDEXX at Hood College that tests for e.coli and the program was recently authorized by the Maryland Department of the Environment for Tier 3 status allowing the data to be used in regulatory decisions.
“Our lab went through an independent assessment to verify the IDEXX process,” Walls said in the email. “So we have a really solid monitoring program.”
Upper Potomac Riverkeeper tests the river at their locations every Wednesday morning and do the tests May through September.
Walls also noted his organization they are only testing the waters edge, as well, and samples do not represent the entire river at each location and echoed Faith ‘s statement about the information being for people to make an informed decision.
“We say that there is a higher risk when bacteria levels are above standards and that the risk is higher for children and adults with immune deficiency health concerns,” Walls said.
He advised to limit swimming or at least underwater and to always wash hands before eating.
