Water Quality Monitoring

DEC programs collect monitoring data on rivers, streams, and lakes. Results are analyzed and evaluated for quality assurance, used to inform applied research and reporting, and made publicly available through the online data portal and waterbody assessments. Monitoring and assessment goals include:

• Identifying overall quality of waters.
• Identifying long-term water quality trends.
• Characterizing naturally occurring or background conditions.
• Establishing baseline conditions for use in measuring the effectiveness of site-specific restoration and protection activities.

Monitoring strategies for DEC's water quality monitoring include the following:

• The Screening Network provides a narrative assessment of water quality at sampling sites statewide based on biological assessment using macroinvertebrate community analysis, or biomonitoring, as well as measures of acute toxicity in the water, physical habitat evaluation and water chemistry. Locations identified during the screening year may be selected for additional sampling during the following year.
• Special Surveys are designed to answer specific questions regarding habitat and water quality and may employ multi-media sampling-depth integrated water chemistry, bottom sediment and invertebrate tissue chemistry, toxicity testing macroinvertebrate or fish community assessments, habitat assessment-depending on the focus of the survey.
• The Routine Trend Monitoring Network provides information for establishing basic water quality characteristics and baseline conditions, and for identifying long-term trends by sampling at fixed sites across the state, conducted each year, regardless of the rotating cycle.

Rotating Integrated Basin Studies (RIBS)

The objectives of the Rotating Integrated Basin Studies (RIBS) program are to monitor and assess water quality of rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater of New York State. The program is designed to monitor all major drainage basins in the state every 5 years. 

Specific RIBS monitoring programs include:

• River and Stream Monitoring
• Lake Classification and Inventory (LCI)
• Groundwater Monitoring

River and Stream Monitoring

The River and Stream Monitoring program, was initiated in 1972 and is primarily focused on fulfilling the Screening Network and Special Survey monitoring strategies. The DEC Screening Network targets approximately 75 river and stream monitoring locations for the collection of water quality data annually in 3-4 of the 17 basins in New York State per the RIBS monitoring cycle. An additional subset of the river and stream locations may be sampled periodically each year for the completion of Special Surveys based on annual priority.

Water data quality data collected through DEC river and stream monitoring Are determined by specific project requirements and based on the overarching monitoring strategy.

Data Collection may include:

• Biological monitoring of resident macroinvertebrate communities
• Field parameters collected within the water column using a multi-parameter probe
  • Temperature
  • Dissolved Oxygen
  • pH
  • Specific Conductance
  • Salinity
  • Chlorophyll A
  • Phycocyanin
• Laboratory parameters collected at river and stream monitoring locations
  • Alkalinity
  • Chlorophyll A (water column only)
  • Hardness
  • Nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen)
  • Salt parameters (sodium and chloride)
  • Sulfate
  • Toxics (including PCBs, PFAS, and others)
  • Total and dissolved metals
  • Total dissolved solids
  • Turbidity

Additional data collected through the RIBS River and Stream Monitoring Program may include:

• Physical habitat information
• Evaluation of recreational use perception
• Sediment toxicity
• Organism tissue chemistry
• Benthic algae composition
• Fish presence and abundance information for small wadeable waterbodies

Lake Classification and Inventory

New York State has more than 7,600 freshwater lakes, ponds and reservoirs that are used for recreation and supply water to homes, industries, and farms. DEC staff conduct water quality sampling and evaluate these waterbodies through the LCI programs and follows the 5-year rotating basin schedule of the RIBS program.

DEC adheres to the procedures outlined in the "Standard Operating Procedure: Collection of the Lake Water Quality Samples" and the "Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) for the LCI Lake Monitoring Program" to ensure uniformity of methods and data accuracy. These documents are available from NYSDEC DOW Water Quality Assurance webpage.

The following is a list of the information that is collected at the lake and collected from lake water samples in the lab.

• Field parameters collected within the water column using a multi-parameter probe
  • Depth
  • Temperature
  • Dissolved Oxygen
  • pH
  • Specific Conductance
  • Chlorophyll A
  • Oxygen Reduction Potential (ORP)
• Laboratory parameters collected at the surface of all lakes and from the bottom of thermally stratified lakes
  • Nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen)
  • Chlorophyll A (surface only)
  • Alkalinity
  • True color
  • Total and dissolved organic carbon
  • Total and dissolved metals
  • Salt parameters (sodium and chloride)
  • Sulfate
  • Total dissolved solids
  • Hardness
  • Water Clarity (Secchi depth)
• Other indicators collected at a subset of all sampled lakes
  • Aquatic plant community assessment
  • Physical habitat characteristics
  • User perception survey
  • Bathymetry
  • HABs indicators (algae, microscopy, toxins)
  • Sediment cores (diatom community assessment)
  • Benthic macroinvertebrates

Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Biomonitoring

Biological monitoring provides information on the relative health of an ecosystem since the organisms living in a waterbody serve as indicators of water quality. The types and numbers of organisms collected from polluted water differ from those collected in unpolluted water. These organisms help us determine the quality of the water and to detect changes over time. Biomonitoring is performed in rivers, streams, and lakes as part of the RIBS Program.

DEC biomonitoring adheres to the procedures outlined in the Standard Operating Procedures: Biomonitoring Field Methods. Biomonitoring Enumeration Identification, and Biomonitoring Calculations. This ensures uniformity of methods and accuracy of data when preforming biological monitoring of surface waters in New York State. View the Biological Assessment Profile (BAP) Fact Sheet (PDF) for more information on water quality assessment using biological data. Quality assurance documents are standard operating procedures are available at the NYSDEC DOW Water Quality Assurance webpage.

Groundwater Sampling

The groundwater sampling program conducts yearly comprehensive sampling and analysis of groundwater including field and physical parameters, bacteria, nutrients, inorganics, organics (including pesticides and VOCs), and radiochemicals. The program parallels the five year rotating RIBS program schedule by concentrating on approximately 1/5 of the state each year. Sampling is conducted by USGS using both public and private wells. Sampling results and data reports are available for each major basin through USGS online.

Routine Monitoring Network

Rivers and Streams

The network of "routine" sites provides annual, statewide information for a network of permanent sires to understand long-term trends in flowing waters. Currently, there are 40 Routine Network sites across New York, which are monitored annually regardless of the RIBS Monitoring cycle. Ambient water column chemistry is the primary focus of the Routine Network and is collected 4 times each year. Sampling for the Routine Network is largely conducted by DEC staff working in regional suboffices. Routine Network sires are co-located with United States Geological Survey (USGS) gage stations to facilitate loading calculations for TMDL development and other watershed planning initiatives.

Data collection from these sites in concert with other RIBS River and Stream Monitoring data, such as resident macroinvertebrate communities, have been instrumental in identifying statewide water quality trends over time. See the 2018 publication "Long-term trends in biological indicators and water quality in river and streams of New York State (1972 - 2012): Water Quality Trends in New York State"

Lakes

The "routine Network" for lakes captures long term trends and includes 28 sites sampled annually by a combination of CSLAP volunteers and LCI staff. As with rivers and streams, data and analysis of long-term trends in lakes help understand changes in water quality over time.

Lake and Stream Regional Monitoring Networks

In collaboration with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other Northeast States, NYSDEC participates in Regional Monitoring Networks (RMNs) for Lakes and Streams. These RMNs collect biological, thermal, chemical and hydrologic data from freshwater lakes and ponds and wadeable streams. This information is used to help quantify and detect long-term changes in conditions of high-quality waterbodies. Detection of such changes can inform water quality criteria and indicator development, as well as responses to climate change impacts.

Citizen Science

Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators (WAVE)

Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators (WAVE) is a citizen-based water quality assessment developed by DEC. The purpose of WAVE is to enable citizen and community scientists to collect biological data for assessment of water quality in wadeable streams in New York State. WAVE citizen and community scientists collect benthic macroinvertebrates any time between July 1 and September 30. Participants collect riffle-dwelling benthic macroinvertebrates and preserve one or two example specimens of each macroinvertebrate type in a voucher collection.

The WAVE program collects biological data at various locations around the state and provides the RIBS Screening Network with potential site collection.

County, municipal, and not-for-profit organizations may use WAVE data to support local stream restoration and/or protection efforts. DEC is very interested in tracking these applications of the WAVE data. If you are involved or are aware of a use of the WAVE data, please contact the WAVE Coordinator.

The WAVE coordinator identifies all macroinvertebrates in the WAVE samples to the level of family and uses this data to calculate a WAVE score:

Become a WAVE Volunteer Today

Links to the WAVE waiver (which must be completed before participation), survey forms and FAQs can be found in the Sampling Guide (PDF) and WAVE training is also online.

Get trained in the WAVE method today from the comfort of your own home using WAVE Training video.

All WAVE announcements are sent to our DEC Delivers email list. To sign-up, visit DEC's email service webpage.

Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP)

The Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) is a volunteer lake monitoring program directed by DEC staff in collaboration with the New York State Federation of Lake Associations (NYSFOLA). The program was adapted from successful volunteer monitoring programs in Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, and Illinois. CSLAP is one of the longest running, continuous, volunteer monitoring programs in the nation. Through this program, relationships between lake associations, academic and private research institutions, and local and state entities are built statewide.

For more information on CSLAP, please visit CSLAP Sampling Activities - NYSDEC.

Water Quality Monitoring Data

DEC Data Applications

• 303(d) List of Impaired Waters and NYS Section 305(b) Water Quality Report
• Supporting the development, implementation and effectiveness of Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML) and watershed plans.
• State Permit Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit writing, compliance and enforcement, and setting permit limits that are protective of aquatic life.
• Expanding the inventory of waterbodies with aquatic invasive species (AIS).
• Aiding in the identification of, documentation, and response to Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).
• Identifying waterbodies that would benefit from more intensive water quality surveys and investigation as well as other special water quality monitoring projects.
• Assisting other Divisions within DEC to make water quality related management decisions.

DEC Research and Publications

• 30 Year Trends Monitoring Reports or watersheds. "30 Year Trends in Water Quality of Rivers and Streams in New York State, based on Macroinvertebrate Data" (links to PDF at NYS Library) presents a summary of the trends seen statewide, as well as those for many individual rivers and streams.
• 40 Year Trends Monitoring Reports update. "Long-term trends in biological indicators and water quality in rivers and streams of New York State (1972-2012): Water Quality Trends in New York State" (links to PDF at NYS Library).
• Development of numeric criteria that better define the levels of nutrients that result in impairment of water uses.
• Assessment of NYS Areas of Concern (AOCs) as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).
• Analysis of HAB occurrence since 2012. "Detections of cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) om New York State, United States 2012-2020)."

DEC Water quality Data Access

• Us the Division of Water Monitoring Data Portal to access current and historical stream and lake monitoring data in an easy-to-use map.
• Detailed user instructions and a list of available data are provided on the info panel that appears when opening the web app.
• Waterbody inventory and Priority Waterbody List (WI/PWL) fact sheets are now available on the DECinfo Locator.
• LCI data can also be accessed directly from US EPA's STORET Data Warehouse.
• For lake and stream reports and assessments visit the Water Reporting by County webpage or the Watersheds webpage.
• WAVE Map All of the WAVE data that have been collected since the beginning of this project are published on the online WAVE Map. For comprehensive data files, email [email protected].

Ongoing Special Studies

Deer River Water Quality

Deer River Investigation—DEC investigated the growth of a water mold in the Deer River in St. Lawrence County and identified the presence of Leptomitus lactus starting at the North Country Dairy outfall. The water quality data showed that North Country Dairy’s discharge contributed to the violation of State water quality standards. Learn more about the investigation.