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This week, Arundel Rivers' water quality monitoring team is celebrating their last day on the boat for the 2024 water quality monitoring season. Rain or shine, the team has taken water quality measurements on our rivers 28 times from April to October. As the weather grows colder, average water temperatures have dropped from 80 degrees in August to 74 degrees in September and early October. So far, our highest clarity reading In October was 55 inches on Harness Creek, a tributary of the South River. Across September and October, our lowest clarity readings have been 14 inches. We observed these readings on all three rivers: the South (Beards Creek), West (West of Chalk Point), and Rhode (Ponder Cove, Sellman Creek, and Big Island) Rivers.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) measures the amount of oxygen in the water column. For reference, 5 mg/L is the threshold considered healthy for aquatic life. On the South River, throughout September and October, we observed multiple DO readings below 5 mg/L. In October, bottom DO measurements dipped below 1 mg/L on Church Creek, a mid-channel site by the Riva bridge, a mid-channel site upstream, Almshouse Creek, and Glebe Bay. In September, we observed bottom DO readings around 3 to 4 mg/L on the West and Rhode. On the Rhode, we saw these readings at Locust Point and the Rhode River Marina. On the West, we saw these readings at Parrish Creek, a mid-channel site at the mouth of the West, Tenthouse Creek, and near the Galesville Pier.
As our water quality monitoring team reflects on the season, they recall some of their favorite memories from the season. For Riley, Arundel Rivers’ Programs Assistant, it was rescuing a squirrel from the South River. The squirrel was swimming in the middle of the channel by the Riva Bridge, and the team tossed it a life raft and towed it to shore.
A close second was seeing the Blue Angels perform from the water. Lily's, Arundel Rivers’ Community Outreach Assistant and honorary member of the monitoring team, favorite memory was seeing the solar eclipse on the water with Elle, the South, West, and Rhode Riverkeeper, and Mairin, the Community Outreach Coordinator. For Sydney, our Chesapeake Conservation and Climate Corps member, her favorite memory was learning how to drive the boats and meeting the dock puppies during our stops to the fill-up stations. And for your South, West, and Rhode Riverkeeper, Elle Basset, it was monitoring while expecting her second baby, knowing for sure that he was already a little "river rat".