St. Joseph River E. Coli Abundance: Urban vs. Rural

Indianapolis, IN

We examined Escherichia Coli levels of the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana to determine the abundance in urban versus rural watersheds. On 9 November twelve samples, six urban and six rural, were collected throughout the main branch of the river. The Coliscan Easygel method was used to test for the presence and abundance of E. coli coliforms. After 48 hours of incubation, coliforms were counted and a two-sample t-test was conducted to analyze the data. The mean E. Coli levels in urban sections were significantly higher than rural sections. We hypothesize that the higher levels of E. Coli in urban sections is most likely due to the large population of geese in the urban parks as well as combined sewer overflows.