AMBIENT SURFACE WATER QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK

map

This cooperative DEP / USGS Network was established in 1976 to determine status and trends of ambient surface waters in New Jersey. A 1997 network revision focused on supporting water quality initiatives in each of DEP's newly created watershed management areas, the functional units for DEP's Watershed Initiatives. General ASWQMN objectives include:

1. continued tracking of status and trends in ambient water quality
2. establish background water quality by physiographic province
3. provide data from a set of randomly selected sites to assess water quality state wide
4. obtain water quality data that can be correlated with specific land uses (urban/suburban, agricultural and undeveloped)
5. coordinate the collection of water chemistry and biological data at common locations

Core network parameters, measured quarterly include: flow, field parameters, total and filtered nutrients and filtered ions. Bacterial indicators are measured 5 times within 30 days, during the summer, primary contact season. Supplemental parameters, collected at a subset of stations and at a reduced frequency include: diurnal D.O., pesticides, total recoverable metals, VOC, sediment nutrients, sediment metals and sediment PAH's. Web based annual data reports are available at USGS's Annual Data Reports web site. Network data is also stored in the USGS NWIS database and can be found at http://nj.usgs.gov. Network data is assessed in New Jersey Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (305(b) and 303(d)) and can be found at: www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/bwqsa/assessment.htm.

 

Click here to learn about the Supplemental Ambient Surface Water Monitoring Network.