Most people know it can be unsafe to drink unfiltered water out of a stream or lake, even if the water is visibly clear. This is true almost anywhere, including Adams County. Places where public swimming is encouraged are required to test the water to make sure it isn’t overly contaminated. But in Pennsylvania we have many waterways—more than 1,000 miles in Adams County alone—and most of them are not tested regularly.

We were curious about pathogen levels in other streams around Adams County where people like to fish, wade, swim, or otherwise play in the water. So in August 2022, thanks to a grant from the South Mountain Partnership, our corps of volunteers sampled stream water at 21 sites on 10 streams around the county and tested them for harmful pathogens.

We found that, with the exception of four sites, every location we tested was contaminated by E.coli at levels exceeding those recommended by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for recreational use. You can read our final report here.

We’d like to acknowledge our partners and funders for this project: We’re working with Adams County Trout Unlimited, Friends of Toms Creek, and the Adams County Conservation District.

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship Fund, under the administration of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation. The grant was awarded through the South Mountain Partnership, with management oversight by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

We are a partner of the South Mountain Partnership, an alliance of organizations working to preserve and enhance the cultural and natural assets of the South Mountain Landscape in Central Pennsylvania. To learn more about the South Mountain Partnership, please visit www.southmountainpartnership.org.