Tinker’s Creek Watershed Partners’ data is publicly available on http://watersheddata.com/. On this platform, click “Surface Water” and scroll down until you see the Tinker’s Creek/Brandywine watershed. This link will allow you to view a map with all of our data points. You can also create graphs to view trends in the parameters measured. We continually update this database with all of our data collected each month!
If you would like a more comprehensive look at Tinker’s Creek Watershed Sampling data please consult the 2019 Watershed Report. 2019 Water Quality Report-final
Air Temperature: measured in degrees Celsius
Water Temperature: measured in degrees Celsius, impacts amount of dissolved oxygen, influences water chemistry, limits what organisms can live in a body of water
pH: measure of how acidic/ basic water is. Determines solubility, biological availability and chemical constituents of nutrients, limits what organism can live in the water.
DO (ppm): amount of dissolved oxygen available for use as respiration for fish and aquatic organisms. ppm= parts per million
Turbidity (JTU): measure of clarity in a liquid. High concentrations of particulate matter affect light penetration and productivity, recreational values, and habitat quality, and cause lakes to fill in faster. JTU= Jackson Turbidity Unity.
Total Phosphorous: one of the key elements (other than nitrogen) needed for plant growth. Too much can cause eutrophication, which can cause fish kills and plant deaths.
NH3 (mg/l): amount of ammonia in the water. Ammonia is a product of microbiological activity, and can be regarded as indicative of sanitary pollution.
NO2, NO3 (mg/l): nitrite/ nitrate levels in the water. Intermediate and end products of the biological breakdown of organic nitrogen.
Nitrite: high quantities can show waste water pollution
Nitrate: not very toxic to fish but can show poor water quality
TSS (mg/l): total suspended solids. Amount of sediment suspended in the water. High levels can cause decrease in sunlight, accumulate in fish gills causing them to be unable to breathe, decrease disease resistance, decrease food availability, can cause high concentrations of bacteria, metals, nutrients, and pesticides.
E.Coli (cfu/100ml): Escherichia coli bacteria, found in intestines of animals and humans. Indication of sewage or animal waste contamination.
COD (mg/l): chemical oxygen demand. Measure of the total quantity of oxygen required to