Water Quality Monitoring – Pilot Year Review
November 2019
By: David Dockery
The first sampling season of the water quality monitoring program has successfully wrapped up! Six sampling events were completed from April through September. Sampling events were scheduled for critical time periods such as spring runoff when the majority of nutrients and sediment enter the watershed, the growing season when algae, aquatic plants and mosses utilize nutrients to fuel new growth, and late summer and fall when low flow and high temperatures can induce stress in aquatic organisms. Eight sampling sites were selected to allow a holistic view of how water quality changes from the headwaters to the mouth. Land use, geography, geology, and restoration work were also considered in the selection of sites.
Monitoring focused on nutrients, sediment, and aquatic insects. These factors are interconnected and indicative of water quality. For example, high nutrient concentrations can contribute to excessive algal growth that decreases the quality and quantity of habitat for aquatic insects, often leading to a loss of species diversity. As aquatic insects are a primary food source for trout, this loss of diversity can also negatively affect the fishery. Monitoring of these factors will allow us to identify any alarming trends that will negatively affect the watershed and fishery, identify areas of concern and pollution hotspots, focus restoration work where it will have the largest impact, and evaluate the effectiveness of restoration work.
While the true value of the program will come from analyzing trends from years of data, much can be learned from the data collected this year and comparisons to data collected by the state over a decade ago. I look forward to digging into the data when the laboratory analysis is complete! The work completed this year has set a solid foundation for the program and we are excited for it to continue to grow. Thank you for you continued support and commitment to preserving this incredible resource!
