Ribotyping Results for Webhannet Watershed

From December 2001 to May 2002, 231 water samples were collected from the freshwater streams that feed into the Webhannet Watershed.
From June to September 2002, 159 water sample were collected from the Webhannet Estuary, the mouth of its four main tributary streams and Wells Beach.

Over the course of the first project year (Dec 2001 to Sept 2002), staff and volunteers counted 22,856 bacterial colonies. Of these, 159 isolates were ribotyped and compared against both a watershed library and a regional library of known bacterial sources. The results are shown graphically below. See the library of known sources.

Results from the genetic analysis conducted at Jackson Estuarine Lab are shown in the charts below. The first chart indicates the sources of bacteria determined using only the known-source bacteria obtained in the Webhannet watershed. This local database is quite limited, and was made through sampling wastewater influent, septage, pet waste and scat samples from the wild during the sample year. See a map of the study area.

The second chart below is based on a larger database of known sources. The database includes human, pet, livestock and wildlife E. coli samples collected in the course of several MST studies in New Hampshire and Maine. The larger library of known-source bacteria results in fewer unknown bacteria types.