Data were collected in August and September 2015 for analysis of bacteria communities of the Grand Calumet River and associated shorelines. Water samples were collected on three occasions corresponding to one rain-related (wet) events and two non-rain (dry) events. Water samples were collected in the Grand Calumet River, at the mouth of the river, at offshore locations around the peninsular impoundment and at shoreline locations: Jeorse Park (East Chicago, Indiana), Whihala (Whiting, Indiana), and 63rd Street (Chicago, Illinois) beaches. Samples were collected in triplicate, and water was filtered at the USGS Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station. After DNA extraction, samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing using Illumina sequencing. Taxonomic identification was assigned for communities in each sample, at multiple taxonomic levels (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus). Water was also analyzed for E. coli bacteria and turbidity, at the USGS laboratory. Hydrological conditions corresponding to the days of sample collection were obtained from publicly available USGS information (NWIS-National Water Information System). The coordinate file includes information regarding sampling locations and their corresponding latitude and longitudes. The Data file include E. coli densities, laboratory turbidity measurements, and NWIS hydrological data. The raw metagenomic data can be accessed at the NCBI repository under the biproject accession PRJNA541325: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA541325