Along with sediment and nutrient pollution, this runoff also carried another sort of pollutant.

During weekly water-quality monitoring of local rivers, we recorded startling spikes of bacteria levels in a majority of the sites sampled. Organizations like the South River Federation, West/Rhode Riverkeeper, Severn River Association and the Magothy River Association all monitor bacteria levels within their river systems at community swimming and recreational areas.

This weekly sampling, which we call Operation Clearwater, is coordinated with Anne Arundel Community College, which analyzes samples for enterococci bacteria. Enterococci is an organism naturally found in the gut of warm-blooded animals and is the best indicator for the presence of harmful pathogens in a water body.

Sampling began in late May, and for much of the last month or so, with a few notable exceptions, bacteria levels have met the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency threshold of 104 colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters.

For samples collected on June 10, nearly all of the samples on the South River failed that threshold. For the West and Rhode Rivers, 2/3 of the samples failed.

The frequency of failure is alarming, but so is the magnitude. Two sites on the South River and two on the West River were near 3,000 cfu/100 ml. Five more exceeded 1,000 cfu/100 ml.

Well aware of the bacteria danger to human health after rain events, the county Health Department issues a blanket advisory to avoid contact with our estuaries for at least 48 hours after a rain event.

They choose not to sample during that period because they assume the sites will fail. The organizations participating in Operation Clearwater believe that our communities have a right to know how potentially dangerous contact with bacteria-laden water is.

Despite our efforts, and those by the county, we doubt that public are aware of the Health Department's no-contact advisory.

Stormwater pollution is a huge issue throughout the Chesapeake region, but particularly in heavily suburbanized Anne Arundel County.

Each storm has the potential to carry pet waste, effluent from failing septic systems, and in some cases, the "contributions" from resident geese. Bacteria from these sources enter our rivers and create unsafe conditions. People are getting sick from the bacteria in the water.

The County Council had a chance to act on this issue last year by passing a Watershed Restoration Fund, which would establish a dedicated funding source for stormwater-management projects.

Instead of acting, the bill was defeated by Councilmembers Daryl Jones, Ed Middlebrooks, Ed Reilly and Cathy Vitale, allowing our backlog of stormwater related impairments to continue to grow out of control. By most estimates, the County backlog is now over $1 billion.

Watershed organizations like ours continue to work closely with the county and with local communities to take whatever steps possible to reduce the impacts of stormwater to our rivers.

However, without sufficient public awareness and funds to address the problem, it's likely only to grow worse in the coming years.

Erik Michelsen is the executive director of the South River Federation and Chris Trumbauer is the West/Rhode Riverkeeper. The weekly bacteria counts for the South River and West and Rhode River sampling sites can be found on the Web sites of the respective watershed organizations, www.southriverfederation.net and www.westrhoderiverkeeper.org.

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