SOUTH BRANCH WATERSHED ASSOCIATION Event Highlights

2004 Volunteer Biological Monitoring Workshop

Signs of a healthier river were found in the South Branch Watershed Association's 2004 river monitoring.

In late June, trained volunteer "water stewards" collected bug samples at 17 assigned sites within the watershed along the South Branch of the Raritan River and its tributaries.

Volunteers followed an EPA-approved protocol to ensure accuracy and precision in collecting data. The samples were sent to a certified lab for analysis. Different species of juvenile bugs that live on the bottom of river can tell much about water quality.

Each of the 17 sites was assigned an impairment score. Of them, 14 were non-impaired, three were moderately impaired and none were severely impaired. This is an improvement from the eight moderately impaired sites from the previous year.

Nicole Rahman, director of the association's monitoring program, said wide fluctuations in precipitation levels over the past several years could have affected results. Ms. Rahman said 2004's monitoring was done under conditions more like normal, not like the drought conditions and low water levels of the previous two years.

Association leaders will now determine who will analyze the 11 years of data, which Executive Director Don Einhorn called "extremely useful in gauging the health of the watershed."

"A comprehensive analysis will tell us what streams may be showing signs of stress," he said. "It's not unlike having your pulse and blood pressure checked during an annual physical ... These bugs are the pulse of the watershed system. They tell us if we need to look further to determine what is causing problems."