Water

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• 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

• Beach Monitoring

  The CT DEEP Water Monitoring and Assessment Unit conducts weekly bathing water sampling at 22 state-owned and managed swimming areas.

• PFAS Surface Water and Fish Tissue Monitoring

  Information on DEEP efforts to monitor PFAS in surface waters and fish tissue.

• Fish Tissue Contaminant Monitoring

  Monitoring of toxic contaminants in tissues of fish and invertebrates has been conducted by DEEP in partnership with the CT Department of Public Health (DPH) since the late 1970s. Efforts have historically included analysis of levels of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). More recent work has sought to study new contaminants of emerging concern, such as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS).

• Cold Water Stream Habitat Map

  Cold Water Stream Habitat Map

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• 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 Quality Standards and Classification

  The Connecticut Water Quality Standards establish the water quality goals of Connecticut's waterbodies and form the foundation of Connecticut's water management programs.

• Water Quality Planning ListServ

• Aquatic Life Impacts of Phosphorus Research

  The CT DEEP Monitoring Group is engaged in several efforts to study the effects of phosphorus in water bodies. This webpage provides information on the monitoring efforts, results and analysis conducted by the Monitoring Program. These efforts include recommendations by the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering report ‘Methods to Measure Phosphorus and Make Future Projections’ developed as part of Public Act 12-155, An Act Concerning Phosphorus Reductions in State Waters.

• Phosphorus Reduction Strategy for Inland Non-tidal Waters

  Phosphorus Reduction Strategy for Inland Non-tidal Waters

• 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.