Monitoring
Monitoring Group
Among the goals and objectives of the Niantic River Watershed Protection Plan (NRWPP), is to improve water quality and biological monitoring for the Niantic River and its tributaries. This includes the establishment of a comprehensive long-term water quality monitoring program for the Niantic River Watershed.
The Niantic River Watershed Committee Monitoring Subcommittee has an ongoing commitment to compiling current and historical water quality data and biological surveys pertaining to the Niantic River. Evaluation of this data may reveal long-term water quality changes and trends in the Niantic River. To view the data that’s been collected to date by the Monitoring Subcommittee, please click here.
WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN THE NIANTIC RIVER WATERSHED
In spring of 2012, the Monitoring Subcommittee will begin a water quality monitoring program in Latimer Brook. The Subcommittee has selected eight sites along the brook, from Barnes Reservoir to the Golden Spur. Water quality data including physical parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity and nitrate will be measured. The Niantic River Watershed Committee will use this data to identify areas where water quality improvements can be made.
In 2011, the US Geological Service (USGS) completed a three year water quality monitoring project on several tributaries to the Niantic River, including Latimer Brook and Oil Mill Brook. Click here to link to Real-Time Data for Latimer Brook. USGS staff are currently analyzing the collected data, and will publish a report on their findings in 2012.
The East Lyme Conservation Commission has conducted macroinvertebrate surveys on sections of Latimer Brook and Cranberry Meadow Brook. Macroinvertebrates are organisms that live in the streams, and that display varying tolerance to pollution. By collecting organisms living in the stream, and noting the types collected, conclusions can be drawn regarding the level (or lack) of pollution in the stream. For more information regarding macroinvertabrate monitoring, and the results of the 2010 RBV surveys, visit the CT DEEP Rapid Bioassessment for Volunteers (RBV) web page.
If you would like to survey a stream near your home in the Niantic watershed, contact Watershed Coordinator Judy Rondeau for more information.
The Niantic River Watershed Website is funded in part by the CT DEEP through a US EPA Nonpoint Source grant under §319 of the Clean Water Act.
Be a NIMBY for the Niantic
We want you to be a NIMBY for the Niantic River: Niantic In My Back Yard. If you are in the Niantic River Watershed, which includes parts of East Lyme, Waterford, Salem, and Montville, then drainage from your site ends up in local streams and into the Niantic River. This means we are responsible for what happens to the Niantic River.