Stevens Branch of the Winooski River 

E. coli Study 2024-2025

Friends of the Winooski River complete a comprehensive sampling of the Stevens Branch in 2024-2025 to test for the extent of E. coli contamination. The section of the Stevens Branch in Barre City has been listed on the State’s 303(d) list of impaired waters for many years, but knowing that rivers don’t abide by municipal boundary lines, we wanted to understand and accurately convey to watershed residents and visitors the true extent of the bacteria problem in the Stevens Branch.

As we were working to remove the Jockey Hollow dam in Barre Town, we wondered whether that area, already popular for swimming, was safe for people: should we or should we not encourage recreational use of the Stevens Branch? We didn’t know the answer to this. Through the settlement of an enforcement action by the State Agency of Natural Resources related to violations in the operation of Barre City’s wastewater plant, we received a portion of the City’s fine to support our study of the Stevens Branch and communication of the results. 

FWR contracted with Stone Environmental to work with our staff to assess bacteria in the Stevens Branch, from Williamstown to Montpelier, to inform public outreach content. Stone designed and led the sampling program, with samples collected on four dates in fall 2024 when low-flow conditions would provide baseline data without runoff inputs. There was additional sampling done in August 2025 to more closely bracket some of the locations with the highest levels of E. coli observed in 2024. FWR staff were included in the sampling efforts. Stone produced a report and a webmap.

We worked with MajaDesign to create an infographic to show the results. As you can see in the map below, the samples were generally clean through Williamstown and Barre Town, clean in the tributaries in Berlin (the small streams that feed into the Stevens Branch), and in the Winooski River coming through East Montpelier. It is clear that there are serious wastewater inputs in Barre City that elevate bacteria levels (and may have other negative impacts) all the way along the Stevens Branch to Montpelier.