This has been a different kind of year for Charleston Waterkeeper’s water quality testing program, according to Executive Director Andrew Wunderley.
It’s been 13 years since the environmental advocacy group started its Swim Alert program, which monitors levels of harmful bacteria in Lowcountry waterways. This year, levels are at some of the lowest ever seen.
“We’re generally seeing less high results overall than we have had in the past,” Wunderley said. “And the high results we are seeing aren’t as high.”
Normally, several times per summer, results in some areas would max out the group’s water quality test, which has an upper quantitative limit of 24,196 colony-forming units of enterococcus (or fecal) bacteria per 100 milliliters of water (cfu/mL). That’s about 200 times over the state standard of 104 cfu/mL. This year, however, the highest result has been 8,000 cfu/mL in a sample taken Aug. 19 from the Ashley River near Brittlebank Park…