Winooski River - Tier 2 Report - Ashley Eaton, 07/15/15

Physical Parameters Assessment

Investigator Name(s): 

North Branch Nature Center

Collection Date & Time: 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 11:15am

School: 

North Branch Nature Center

Watershed: 

Winooski Basin

River: 

Winooski River

Monitoring Site: 

Dog River

Site Description: 

Fields around it. Rocky bottom of stream. Fast current and lots of wildlife.

Surrounding Development or Land Use: 

Farm

Residential

Forest

Crops

Road Along Bank

Do you see any pipes entering into the river?: 

No

Is there a water treatment plant upstream?: 

No

Canopy Cover: 

26-50%

Water Appearance: 

Clear

Tea-colored

Muddy

Water Odor: 

Odorless

Average Embeddedness: 

0-25%

Exact Location

Latitude: 

44.29

Longitude: 

-72.57

Weather

Present: 

Overcast

Past 48 Hours: 

Clear/Sunny

Showers

Steady Rain

Average Transparency/Turbidity

No Impact: >60 cm - 17cm = 0-50 ntu
Possible Impact: 17 - 8cm = 65-150 ntu
Impacted: 8 - < 6 cm = >150 ntu

Height of Water Column: 

120.00cm

Turbidity: 

120.00NTU

Chemical Assessment

Average Temperature: 

14.00°C

Average pH: 

6.50

Average Orthophosphate PO4-3: 

0.23mg/L

Average Dissolved Oxygen: 

10.00mg/L

Stream Habitat Assessment

Streambed Composition: 

Mixture of cobbles, gravels, and sand (3)

Streambank Stability: 

Moderately stable banks – some areas of erosion visible (1)

Deepest pool is at least: 

Waist deep (2)

Velocity: 

Moderately fast – slowly takes objects downstream (1)

Riparian Vegetation: 

Mixture of trees, shrubs, and grasses (3)

Riparian Vegetative Zone Width: 

Buffer zone is greater than 100 feet (3)

Streambed Cover

Rock ledges: 

0

Submerged logs, stumps, or tree roots: 

1

Large rocks: 

0

Artificial objects: 

0

Other: 

0

Stream Habitat Quality Score

Calculated by adding all of the points from the above fields.

18-22 (Excellent)
11-17 (Good)
6-10 (Fair)
0-5 (Poor)

Stream Habitat Quality Score for This Report: 

14

Biological Assessment

PT Group 1 (Intolerant)

Stonefly Nymph: 

1

Mayfly Nymph: 

1

Caddis Fly Larvae: 

1

Riffle Beetle: 

1

# of Taxa: 

0

PT Group 2 (Moderately Intolerant)

Dragonfly Nymph: 

1

Cranefly Larvae: 

1

# of Taxa: 

0

PT Group 3 (Fairly Tolerant)

Midges: 

1

# of Taxa: 

0

PT Group 4 (Very Tolerant)

Aquatic Worms: 

1

# of Taxa: 

0

Pollution Tolerance Index Rating

Calculated as follows:
4*(# of Taxa in PT Group 1) + 3*(# of Taxa in PT Group 2) + 2*(# of Taxa in PT Group 3) + 1*(# of Taxa in PT Group 4)

23+ (Excellent)
17-22 (Good)
11-16 (Fair)
0-10 (Poor)

PTI Rating for This Report: 

0.00