Enterococcus (“Entero”) is a fecal indicating bacterium that lives in the intestines of humans and other warm-blooded animals.
Water Quality > Catskill Creek
Catskill Creek
Citizen Testing Sites
Water Quality Conditions by Location
| Recent Samples | Historical Statistics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site Name (Watershed) | Sample Date |
[i]
Entero Count
|
[i]
4 Days Total Rain (in)
4 Days Total Rain (in)The combined rainfall for the day of sampling, prior day, two days prior and three days prior. More than 1/4 inch is considered a “wet weather sample.” |
[i]
Number of Samples
|
[i]
Geometric Mean Geometric MeanA measure of central tendency (a weighted average) used by NYS DEC and the US EPA to assess water quality. The geometric mean is defined as the nth root (where n is the number of samples) of the product of the Enterococcus measurements. A geometric mean over 30 fails the EPA criteria for safe primary contact. |
[i]
Maximum
MaximumThe highest Enterococcus count we have recorded at this site (“>” indicates an unknown number greater than this number and reflects the upper limit of our scoring ability for this sample). |
[i]
Minimum
MinimumThe lowest Enterococcus count we have recorded at this site (“<” indicates an unknown number less than this number and reflects the lower limit of our scoring ability for this sample). |
Individual Entero Counts by Site
Note: multiple counts of the same value will overlap and appear as one dot.
Water Quality*
*Single sample thresholds;
Enterococcus count per 100mL
Prior Four Day Rainfall
(in inches)
Geometric Mean*
*Weighted average of multiple
samples; Enterococcus count
per 100mL
The Catskill Creek flows from the Franklinton Vlaie wetland in Schoharie County through Albany County and into Greene County. Forest and agricultural land cover much of the watershed. Most of the urban development in the Catskill Creek watershed is concentrated in the lower section of the watershed, which has helped preserve the upper watershed’s habitat value for fish. The creek downstream of the Route 23 Bridge is also important overwintering and spawning habitat for several fish species. The creek has several popular swimming holes and fishing spots along its course.
Read Riverkeeper’s 2019 data summary for the Catskill Creek Watershed.
SAMPLING PARTNERS
Riverkeeper partners with local residents and with the Catskill Creek Watershed Awareness Project at Cornell Cooperative Extension to sample in the Catskill Creek watershed. For the first two years of our study, we sampled only the lower portion of the watershed, from Cairo to the mouth in the Village of Catskill. In 2014 we worked with watershed residents to identify additional sampling sites and expand sampling coverage to the headwaters.