Great Swamp

Watershed

AssociationKeeping our waters clean

for everyone

Sandra LaVigne

Director of Water Quality Programs

Presented at NJWMC Meeting, 5/24/17

Great Swamp watershed (headwaters of the Passaic River)

Advocacy Preserving open

space

Advocating for smart development

Helping protect the waters of the Passaic River

Water Quality

Visual Assessments

E. coli

Macroinvertebrate

Chemical Monitoring

What GSWA Does

Water Quality Program Goals

Monitor throughout

the Great Swamp

sub-watershed

Expand monitoring

and knowledge to

area downstream

of Millington Gorge

Communicate

findings

Improve impaired

areas

Protect high quality

sites

Create community

stewards through

volunteer

opportunities

Water Quality Monitoring

Four tributaries and

the headwaters of

the Passaic River

2017 – 4 new sites

downstream of the

Millington Gorge

outlet

Chemical

Monitoring

4 times per year

Handheld

meters

Lab analysis

Visual Assessments Conducted by volunteer

team

NJDEP protocol; training led by NJDEP Watershed Ambassadors

Assessments twice a year Spring – April/May

Fall – Oct/Nov

Currently 24 sites

2017 Visual Assessment sites

Macroinvertebrate

Assessments • Annual Survey, since 2000

• Macros collected in mid –late June

• Meter data and visual assessment collected concurrently informs results

Intensive biological

survey GSWA staff

Trained volunteers

Preliminary training

with NJ watershed

Ambassadors

Secondary training

with GSWA staff

Review of SOP

Utilize surbersamplers

4 samples per site In conjunction with

different flow types

Minimum of 100 specimens

Samples preserved in ethyl alcohol

Sent to certified lab for analysis

Sampling site selection and

challenges Sites selection

coincides with

chemical/visual

sites where possible

Sites with historic

data

Moving

downstream

More muddy

bottom sites

Many sites deeper and with

higher flow rates

Need to update

SOP for these sites

Bacteria monitoring

Total coliform and

E. coli

In house

processing

IDEX system

Controls run

weekly during

sampling season

Monitoring protocols and site

selection

Samples taken weekly over five weeks

Site selection based on other monitoring sites and areas of high community use

2017 – 19 sites

Volunteers must

complete training

session prior to

sampling

SOP Reviewed and

updated yearly

2017 Bacteria Monitoring Sites

Communicating Results

GSWA Report card

Contact municipalities with issues

Work with community stakeholders to address concerns

Submit data to NJDEP

Thank You!Sandra LaVigne

Director of Water Quality Programs

Great Swamp watershed Association

sandral@greatswamp.org