For Volunteer Monitors
	2011 Monitoring Schedule
	Sites Database
	Directions to Labs
	Data Sheets
	WQM Volunteer Handbook
Water Quality Data
	2011 Water Quality Data to Date
	2010 Water Quality Data
	1996-2009 Historical WQ Data
Maps of Water Quality Sites
	Interactive map of water quality monitoring site data (1996-2005)
	Site data by town
	All sites listed alphabetically
	Maps of site locations by year

This year will mark the nineteenth season that dedicated volunteers have monitored water quality throughout the Nashua River watershed. Thanks to all our participants!

For a peek at what it's like to be a volunteer monitor, view videos created by Dawn McCall and Mike Labbe, NRWA Water Monitors from Shirley: Water Sampling and In the Lab.

From April through October, field volunteers collect data once a month at 36 streamside sites throughout the watershed. The NRWA partners with two laboratories- the Devens Wastewater Treatment Facility operated by AECOM and the Pepperell Wastewater Treatment Plant. Lab volunteers, lab staff, and the NRWA staff analyze the samples for E. coli bacteria and dissolved oxygen. Temperature and stream characteristics are recorded by volunteers in the field. In both the field and the lab, quality control procedures are followed according to the NRWA's water quality monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan.

Monitoring for the 2011 season is supported in part by a grants from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and the Greater Lowell Community Foundation.

Data collected by NRWA volunteers reflects a snapshot of conditions on one particular day at each individual sampling site. While that data is useful in studying the general health of the rivers and watching for quality issues, daily conditions of the rivers are variable and may be affected by a number of factors; therefore, the data may not represent the actual conditions of the rivers in other locations or on other occasions. NRWA is also involved in bacterial source tracking at targeted locations. If you have questions about water quality, you are encouraged to contact water quality personnel at the NRWA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the NRWA and its partners a Targeted Watershed Initiative grant for “Protecting Today’s Water for Tomorrow: Combating Threats to Source Water in the Squannacook-Nissitissit Sub-basin of the Nashua River Watershed in Massachusetts & New Hampshire.” The water quality monitoring portion of the project will provide baseline data on nutrient loading, including stormwater, to and from the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers. Water sampling began in 2006 at fifteen locations in the S-N sub-basin. The samples are analyzed for 6 nutrients and total suspended solids during routine monitoring. In addition, surface water at locations with three different land use types are targeted for storm event sampling: a largely forested site; a more “urbanized” site; and, a densely populated residential site.

Thanks to grants from the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, the Nashua River Watershed Association completed organization of the past ten years of water quality monitoring data (1996-2005) into an accessible and usable format necessary for analyzing trends. An additional enhancement was added in 2006 to color-code data by parameter to make a report card of stream conditions. View 2010 color-coded Water Quality Data. View historic data 1996-2009.

In addition to the monthly monitoring, volunteers have helped monitor the health of smaller brooks and streams through macroinvertebrate sampling. They have also helped pull out the invasive water chestnut plant on the Pepperell Pond portion of the Nashua River mainstem (a project sponsored by Nashoba Paddler).

If you are interested in volunteering or if you have questions about water quality issues, please contact Kathryn Nelson, NRWA's Water Monitoring Coordinator (e-mail Kathryn) or Martha Morgan, NRWA's Water Programs Director ( e-mail Martha).

Lab volunteers Mariead and Matthew.	Collecting samples for macroinvertebrate evaluation.