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| Bill Ward collecting samples from the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River |
Contents:
What are our goals and objectives?
Our Side by Side program is designed to facilitate the comparison of data collected by different monitoring groups, such as counties, conservation districts, tribes, consultants, schools, and volunteer organizations, as well as state and federal agencies. Results can be used by monitoring organizations as a quality control element, and by data analysis projects combining data from multiple sources to ensure results are comparable between organizations.
If you want to come sample with us, you need only fill out a questionnaire, identify our nearest monitoring station, lookup when we will be sampling there, and come collect a sample. If you send in your data, we will post it to the internet (anonymously, if you like) along with everyone else's that was collected at the same station and day. We've produced a Focus Sheet to give you a quick overview; the program's web site is here: Side-by-Side Sampling Program.
The Washington State Department of Ecology has conducted monthly water quality monitoring at hundreds of stream stations throughout the state for nearly 50 years. We monitor by water year (October through September). We collect data at the following station types:
Routinely measured indicators of water quality (and methods) are listed in the table, below. We occasionally sample additional constituents to meet special needs.
| ammonia (SM4500NH3H) | nitrate plus nitrite (SM4500NO3I) | phosphorus, total (SM4500PH) |
| conductivity (SM2510B) | nitrogen, total (SM4500NB) | suspended solids (SM2540D) |
| fecal coliform bacteria (SM9222D) | oxygen (SM4500OC) | temperature (thermistor) |
| flow (at most stations) | pH (EPA150.1) | turbidity (SM2130) |
| metals (bimonthly, at a few stations) (EPA200.8, 245.7) | phosphorus, soluble reactive (SM4500PG) |
In 2001 we implemented a program to collect stream and air temperature data at 30-minute intervals. We deploy recording instruments at 30 to 50 stations, generally from June through September. In 2011, we implemented a program to collect continuous oxygen data at a few stations.
Our monitoring program is described in these documents:
Our goal is to provide timely and accurate water quality data and data summaries to various clients within the Department of Ecology and elsewhere. These data are used for a variety of purposes which may be expressed in broad terms as the determination of status and trends in stream water quality statewide. Some specific objectives of the stream monitoring program are as follows:
Our Quality Assurance Monitoring Plan (QAMP) addresses quality control issues in detail; results are evaluated in annual reports (see "Our Reports" below).
Our routine monitoring data are summarized by a technique called the "Water Quality Index" (WQI).
A brief overview of the index, detailed methodology, and a spreadsheet version that can be used to calculate index scores using your own data, are available through the links, below:
Results that exceed water quality criteria or the usual range of data are available as soon as we get the data from the laboratory (usually a month or two after samples are collected). The report is based on preliminary results that are subject to change without notice.
Most of the results we have collected over the years are now available online. WARNING: Data are considered provisional and subject to change without notice until our annual report is published. This can take as long as a year after the end of the water year. An explanation of our station numbering system is also available.
If you use our data, please let us know what stations and what you used it for. This will help us document the usefulness of the data and may also help guide future station selection.
Publications referencing data from particular years should cite the appropriate annual report. For example,
Hallock, D., 2009. River and Stream Water Quality Monitoring Report, Water Year 2008. Washington State Department of Ecology, Olympia, WA. 38 pp. + appendices. Publication No. 09-03-041. www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0903041.html.
Publications referencing data from multiple years downloaded from the web, should cite the web site. For example,
Washington Department of Ecology, {year accessed}. River and Stream Water Quality Monitoring data available on the World Wide Web. Accessed {date accessed}. www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/fw_riv/rv_main.html.
Four ways to get to the monitoring results
| Option 1. Search on a river or town name |
Option
4. Click on a state map 
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| Option 2.
Select from a state list Long-term and recent basin stations warning: large page, 200 kilobytes |
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| Option 3.
Select from a WRIA
list |
Continuous temperature data are summarized and available for download through the links, above. Continuous oxygen data (and continuous data for other parameters) are housed with our flow monitoring data in a different web application. The links, below, lead to maps showing locations where continuous data are available.
Continuous Temperature
Continuous Oxygen
| update type | schedule |
|---|---|
| Water Quality Index | Updated within three months of finalizing data. |
| results exceeding criteria | As soon as a full month's data are available from the lab. Generally about six weeks after sampling. (Based on preliminary data.) |
| finalized data | Data are not considered final until our annual report, which includes a quality control review, is published (or at least in final draft). This can be six to twelve months after the end of the water year. |
| preliminary data | As soon as a full month's data are available from the lab. Generally about six weeks after sampling. | continuous data | Deployed temperature loggers are generally collected by the end of October. Data are entered, reviewed, and usually available on the web by about March. Some continuous data may be available in near-real-time. These data are housed with our flow monitoring data. |
We produce both routine and special reports. Our annual reports discuss the stream monitoring program in detail, including a quality control evaluation for the preceding year. In the past, we have summarized our monitoring data in reports called "The Condition of Freshwaters in Washington State." These reports included a generalized water quality assessment, a trend analysis, and a summary of water quality results by region. We occasionally conduct station- or region-specific assessments to address particular issues at a station or within a basin. A partial list of data analysis reports and monitoring program methodology documents are listed in the tables, below:
| Annual Reports by Water Year (October through September) |
| 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 |
| Special Topics in Annual Reports | data year |
| Station by station analysis, including trends, at Puget Sound long-term stations | 1991 |
| Discussion of new continuous temperature monitoring program | 2001 |
| Reports trend power and proposes a simple method to predict it | 2002 |
| Reports extra turbidity data collected at several Crab Creek and Tucannon River stations | 2003 |
| Reports extra turbidity data collected at several Palouse River basin stations; discusses total phosphorus in-line digestion method | 2004 |
| Compares temperature results from grab samples to 7-day average of daily maximums and develops predictive tool | 2006 |
| Reports experiment to test our oxygen holding times; reports trends in automated quality control checks | 2007 |
| Trends in nitrate plus nitrite nitrogen and total nitrogen concentrations and yields in Puget Sound area major rivers | 2008 |
| Summary of 15 years of statewide metals monitoring and trends in metals in the Spokane River at Stateline | 2009 |
| Quality control review of continuous multiple parameter monitoring (including optical oxygen) | 2010 |
| Under consideration for WY2011 report: Temperature trends at ambient reference stations. Or maybe statewide trends in WQI scores. | 2011 |
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If you have questions about a particular waterbody or monitoring station, you can contact one of the scientists below. If you can't reach them, try Dave Hallock, 360-407-6681. We try to respond to all requests within five working days.
| Central Washington | Eastern Washington | Northwest Washington | Southwest Washington and continuous temperature questions statewide | Ecology Regions |
| Dan Dugger | Dan Sherratt | Bill Ward | Bill Ward |
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| 509.454.4183 | 509.329.3420 | 360.407.6621 | 360.407.6621 | |
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Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
