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Chemical Water Quality Monitoring
CRC’s chemical stream water quality monitoring program helps identify possible pollution events, and documents longer term water quality trends. CRC does regular water quality monitoring:
Near the USGS gauge site above the Media Water Intake
At the Old Mill in Rose Valley
Above and below the Media Waste Water Treatment plant
CRC’s monitoring data shows that the Lower Ridley Creek between the Media Waste Water Plant and the Old Mill in Rose Valley exhibits lower dissolved oxygen levels, and higher nutrient levels, as compared with upstream sections, particularly during summer months.
To view CRC’s monitoring data , courtesy of Dr. John Davis, Widener University Department of Civil Engineering, see http://muse.widener.edu/~jfd0001/CRCmonitor/CRCpage1.html.
Biological Assessments
CRC periodically does biological sampling of stream organisms (“bugs”) to measure the biological diversity of a stream and the presence of pollution sensitive organisms, such as stone flies, which denotes very good or excellent water quality. A 2003 macroinvertebrate study of Ridley Creek above the Sycamore Mills Dam in Ridley Creek State Park by CRC and Stroud Water Research indicated excellent biological diversity, with a diversity and abundance of pollution sensitive organisms favored by trout.
Flow monitoring
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains an online stream flow monitoring device in Ridley Creek a short distance above the Route 1 bypass. To learn the flow of Ridley Creek at the gauge within the past week, go to http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?01476480