State of the Art of Stream Monitoring

About the report:

The study was conducted in an effort to identify methods of stream monitoring for use by the Environmental Quality Division in improving its monitoring programs. A literature search was undertaken to determine the present knowledge of the effects of excess sediment on aquatic ecosystems and to investigate possible ways to monitor the impact of sediments on stream biota. Secondly, interviews were held with state and federal agencies involved with sediment pollution to determine the nature and extent of their programs, especially with regard to stream monitoring. The results of the literature search and the agency interviews indicate that the Department could sample, process, and analyze stream bottom samples more efficiently and quantitatively than at present. Information obtained from the literature suggests that the analysis of stream bottom sediments could be used to assess sediment pollution. This method has several advantages over conventional techniques of chemical and biological monitoring.

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