Indicator bacteria levels in the waters of two East Tennessee watersheds

A water quality project looking at bacteria indicator levels was conducted in two East Tennessee Watersheds. Land use in the first watershed, Pond Creek (TN06010201013), was predominantly dairy farming while the second watershed; Crooked Fork-Emory (TN06010208004) had mixed land use. Monthly water samples were collected at 8 sampling sites in both watersheds from July 2001 to May 2002. The water samples were analyzed for total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and Enterococci. The water analysis showed levels of indicator bacteria exceeded ecoregion reference stream and Tennessee General Water Quality Criteria in Pond Creek at most sampling sites on most sampling dates. During wet months (heavy rainfall) extremely high numbers were observed for all bacteria. Levels of indicator bacteria in Crooked Fork-Emory exceeded ecoregion reference stream and Tennessee General Water Quality Criteria at some sites on some sampling dates. Statistical analysis (ANOV A with PROC GLM) was performed at a= 0.05 to determine if there were differences in bacterial counts across sampling sites or across sampling times at both watersheds. The ANOV A was not significant for differences across sampling sites in Pond Creek but did indicate significant differences for bacteria across sampling months. ANOV A was not significantly different across sampling sites for total coliforms and Escherichia coli in Crooked Fork-Emory but was significantly different across sampling sites for fecal coliforms and Enterococci. ANOV A also indicated significant differences for all bacterial indicators across sampling months for Crooked Fork-Emory watershed. Improvement in water quality could be seen with BMP implementation particularly vegetative filter strips in both Pond Creek and Crooked Fork-Emory watersheds.