| Water Quality Monitoring and Dataloggers |
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| In 2011, the Armstrong Conservation District partnered with the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team to expand their program initiated in Somerset County to monitor streams in the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin. In Armstrong County, there are dataloggers in Roaring Run, Huling Run, and Patterson Creek. These data loggers have provided the conservation district an opportunity to partner with different watershed associations and organizations. These loggers continuously acquire a stream’s water level, temperature, and conductivity every fifteen minutes 24/7. Though constantly recording, visiting the site and removing the logger from the stream and downloading the data to a laptop computer with the proper software must manually download the information. This data should be collected one to two times per month. Results are reviewed and sent to Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team for further analysis. These results do not have any regulatory authority, but may help to guide future restoration projects. The data logger program has provided us with baseline data about the streams we are monitoring and provided us with recommendations and management practices to improve water quality. |
| The ACD also conducts macroinvertebrate surveys to monitor project success and assess stream water quality. Macroinvertebrates are a good biologic indicator for stream health. Macroinvertebrates are small animals without backbones that live in our streams. They are typically insect larvae but not always. Macroinvertebrate sampling is a good way to determine stream health. Some are tolerant to pollution and some are very sensitive to it. Macroinvertebrates are also an important part of the food chain. They are a large part of the diet for many fish. |
| ACD hopes to install dataloggers in additional streams after the completion of restoration projects to document and assess their success. |
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124 Armsdale Rd, Suite 1 Email: |
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