South River Federation conducts water quality testing at 14 locations on South River each year from May through October. Two samples are taken from each site: surface and bottom samples. Data is collected for: dissovled oxygen, salinity, ph, temperature and clarity.
Click here for the 2008 data, compiled weekly in an excel spreadsheet.
For your information, we're listing the RIVERKEEPER's observations while conducting the tests each week:
July 23, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG
July 15, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG
July 7, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG
June 30, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: We didn’t get to three sites because thunderstorms were threatening. We are starting to see an increase in algae blooms with the warm humid temperatures.
June 24, 2008 -RIVERKEEPER LOG: "This week we saw the intense algae bloom that was throughout the river last week dissipate after the heavy thunderstorms. So the River looks better but we can expect that the fresh input of nutrients will trigger another bloom soon. At the same time, the River is teeming with life. Bait balls schools of baitfish are everywhere, cownose rays abound, folks in the headwaters have seen otter, and crabbers are out harvesting the bounty of the River."
June 17, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: "The River is beginning to show signs of algal growth after some of the heavy rains that we have experienced. Today the water was somewhat discolored by algae from the mouth of the River all the way up to Harbor Hills at the Mouth of Flat Creek."
June 6, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: "The River looks amazingly better than it did yesterday after the heavy thunderstorms Tuesday. Water clarity is slightly diminished and algae blooms were present in Glebe Bay, Church Creek, Gingerville Creek, and in Aberdeen Creek. The aerial photo was taken by David Wallace after the very heavy May rains and indicate a huge amount of mud pouring into South River."
May 27, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: "The heavy rains of two weeks ago killed off the large algae bloom and water in the River is clear and our spring aquatic grass (Horned Pond Weed) is abundant. Water temperatures were the same this week as they were the beginning of May, that is to say it’s still a little chilly for swimming."
May 13, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: "After the heavy rains of the weekend of May 10, 11, 12, Drew saw some heavy runoff of sediment above the Route 2 bridge. The water clarity readings were very poor, some of the worst measured on South River in 4 years of sampling."
May 8, 2008 - RIVERKEEPER LOG: "The most obvious thing going on is that there is a Mahogany Tide (Prorocentrum minimum) blooming throughout much of the South River. The timing is such that it is very likely that this bloom will block sunlight from reaching the river bottom during the critical growth stage for our underwater grasses. Time will tell, but the brown water that you see is the first major algae bloom of the season. I grabbed a water sample at the Route 2 Bridge and brought it to a DNR Lab to be analyzed. Walt Butler from DNR found the dominant species to be Prorocentrum minimum at a count of 34,290 cells per milliliter of water… this is a moderate bloom. When counts exceed 75,000/ml it becomes a severe bloom with a strong likelihood of fish kills."
Click below for previous year's water quality data (excel format)
2007
2006
2005
