Black River Action Team Adopt-A-Swimminghole Campaign

With warmer temperatures comes the joy of jumping in the river, and the annual "Adopt-A-Swimminghole" campaign with the Black River Action Team. Thanks to the ongoing generosity of local businesses, regular weekly sampling will be conducted on several popular swimming and recreation areas. Volunteers with the B.R.A.T. are trained to collect water samples every Wednesday morning between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which will be tested for E. coli bacteria at Endyne Labs in Hanover, NH. Results are generated into simple charts by B.R.A.T., and are posted either on site or in the local town office. Results may also be viewed at https://connecticutriver.us/is-it-clean, so anyone can check the trend at their favorite cooling-off spot before visiting.

Sites being monitored this summer through the Adopt-A-Swimminghole program are Buttermilk Falls, sponsored by Okemo Resort since the program began in 2012; the Black River at Greven Field in Proctorsville is sponsored again by Betty McEnaney of Bean Group Real Estate; Cavendish Gorge by Green Mountain Power; Twenty-foot Hole by the Greater Upper Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited; and the recreation pond on West Hill Rd in Ludlow is sponsored again by Vermont Co-Pack. The swimming area below the Tolles Power Dam off Maple Street in Perkinsville is being sampled again this year, but the site is still available for "adoption" through the Black River Action Team. The "adoption fee" of $500 covers all lab testing and chart generation for the full 14 weeks of summer, as well as volunteer mileage.

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors and intrepid volunteers! To learn about B.R.A.T. and the Adopt-A-Swimminghole program, contact Director Kelly Stettner at [email protected] or leave your contact information at (802) 738-0456.