HR: 1330h
AN: H13A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Analyses of Citizen - Collected Water Quality Data: Bridging the Gap between "Hot Spots" to Understanding Processes
AU: * Saleem Arrigo, J
EM: jarrigo@worcester.edu
AF: Worcester State College Department of Physical and Earth Sciences, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA 01602 United States
AB: Monitoring and stewardship of watershed systems is increasingly being undertaken by citizen and non-profit groups. Regular monitoring of water quality being done by many of these organizations is quality controlled and can yield continuous, high-quality data sets. In many cases these data are only being used for preliminary analyses: identifing so-called "hot-spots" or tracking improvement over time. However, these data are suitable for more intensive analyses, and techniques such as principal components analysis may yield more comprehensive understanding of the processes and modes of variability at work. Here, we analyze data from 13 citizen-monitored water quality parameters of the Neponset River and several tributaries in Eastern Massachusetts. We found that different modes of variability emerged from the main river vs. the tributaries and that factors such as stream size and land use could be correlated with specific identified components. This type of analysis could be used by many local watershed associations to better understand their watersheds and to aid in developing long term strategies for protecting and improving the health of the watershed systems.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly