Friends of the Shenandoah River (FOSR) implemented our Summer E. coli Testing Program at public access locations on the main stem, South Fork, and North Fork of the Shenandoah River to let you, the river user, make an informed decision as to potential related health risks when engaging in primary recreational use activities in the river at the sites tested. The FOSR provides unrestricted access to our water-quality data. We ask that acknowledgment and credit be given when using and referring to these data. In order to continue to provide you with these data we hope you will support us with a donation.

These results provide a snapshot of the E. coli bacteria concentrations at the designated sites on the date, time, and under the conditions that the water samples were collected. On June 19, 2024, 2 out of 16 of the sampled sites exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency recommended precautionary “do not exceed” freshwater Beach Action Value (BAV) of 235 CFU of E. coli bacteria per 100mL of water sample for early alert to recreators, including families with children. For states that choose to use the freshwater BAV, any single sample above the BAV could trigger an alert notification until another sample below the BAV is collected.