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• Stressor Identification and Causal Assessment Work

  Stressor identification involves defining and listing possible sources of pollution, evaluating existing data, designing a sampling program to bracket the sources if additional data are needed, characterizing the causes, and, finally, identifying the most probable cause.

• Water Temperature Monitoring Project

  Water temperature is very important to aquatic organisms as it can drive chemical reactions and physiological activity. In addition, water temperature is an important factor in determining which species of aquatic organisms, such as fish, are able to live in a particular section of river or stream. The Water Monitoring Group routinely monitors water temperature at wadeable river and stream locations across Connecticut. Data are collected to complement routine and probabilistic ambient biological monitoring data, to identify high quality watersheds as part of the Group’s Healthy Watersheds Initiative, and to support evaluation of temporal trends, quantification of natural variability, and testing of hypotheses and predictive models related to climate change and water resource management.

• Ambient Diatom Community Monitoring Project

• Connecticut Healthy Waters Initiative

  For several decades, the DEEP Monitoring Group has been building multidisciplinary datasets that include water chemistry data, physical habitat assessments, and biological information. The primary purpose for these data is to support water quality assessments. In addition, through multiple partnerships, the Monitoring Group is using these data to improve our understanding of healthy waters in Connecticut

• 2019 CT Volunteer Water Monitoring Conference

  The 2019 Volunteer Water Monitoring Conference was held on April 5, 2019 at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT. The conference was organized by the CT DEEP in collaboration with partners, and marked the 20 year anniversary of the DEEP Volunteer Water Monitoring Program. The event featured five concurrent oral presentation sessions and workshops as well as a student poster session. More than 100 volunteer water monitoring groups from across Connecticut were represented.

• 2014 Volunteer Water Monitoring Conference

  The 2014 Volunteer Water Monitoring Conference was held on July 25, 2014 at Goodwin College in East Hartford, CT. The conference was the first such conference to be organized by the CT DEEP to celebrate volunteer water monitoring in Connecticut. More than 100 individuals attended representing individual volunteers (citizen scientists), watershed group leaders, municipal commissioners, college and university professors, state and federal scientists, students, and representatives from the environmental consulting industry. In total more than 40 volunteer monitoring groups were represented at the conference!

• Cold Water Stream Habitat Map

  Cold Water Stream Habitat Map

• Ambient Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

  The DEEP Water Monitoring Group has used benthic macroinvertebrate communities to help characterize stream and river water quality since the mid-1970s. Benthic macroinvertebrates are animals without backbones, who inhabit the bottom of rivers and streams, as well as many other waterbody types. These organisms are very well studied and have a long history of use as indicators of water quality. Certain types, including mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, can survive only in the cleanest water quality conditions. Other major groups of macroinvertebrates are true flies, beetles, worms, crustaceans, and dragonflies.

• Stream Connectivity Monitoring

• Water Monitoring Group Reports and Publications

  This page provides a list of reports and publications produced by the Water Monitoring Group. The Water Monitoring Program collects and interprets physical, chemical, and biological data from State waters. One of the major functions of this program is to support designated use assessments, as required under the Federal Clean Water Act, and this is communicated through the Integrated Water Quality Report. Another key role is to provide summary information of important program elements for use by DEEP and the public.

• Lake Water Quality Monitoring

  The DEEP Water Monitoring Program conducts ambient monitoring and the related assessment of the State’s waters, including Connecticut's many lakes and ponds. In Connecticut, there are a total of 2,267 lakes and ponds greater than 10 acres in size. The Monitoring Program conducts annual monitoring on approximately 10-20 of these. The type and locations of monitoring during a given year is determined by a variety of factors including participation in regional and national studies as well as support requests from groups within DEEP.

• Water Monitoring Data Availability

  The DEEP Water Monitoring Group collects a large volume of data, statewide, each year. Data that have gone through the Agency's quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) review process are made publicly available through the following online databases.

• Ambient Fish Community Monitoring

  Fish are an important component of aquatic life in rivers and streams in Connecticut. The DEEP Water Monitoring group therefore uses fish as one of three biological communities to evaluate the health of waterbodies in Connecticut. (The other two biological communities include benthic macroinvertebrates and diatoms.) Fish have the ability to move within a reach to find better water quality, but they can only do so if there is adequate water present and no barriers to their movement such as dams. Fish are therefore good ‘indicators’ of problems related to water quantity and habitat connectivity. Fish are more sensitive to changes in the amount of water in a stream than other biological communities such as benthic macroinvertebrates, and a fish community with very limited fish can often be a signal of flow-related water quality impairments.

• Request for Comment - Stewardship Plan

• Clean Water Fund Priority List Fiscal Year 2026 and 2027

  Notice of public hearing will be held on February 5, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. to collect comments on the draft fiscal year 2026 and 2027 Priority List for the Clean Water Fund program. Written comments are due by February 27, 2026.