National Capital Region Network Inventory and Monitoring Program Stream Water Quality and Quantity Monitoring Protocol: Water Chemistry, Nutrient Dynamics, and Surface Water Dynamics Vital Signs, Version 3.0, 2025

Myers DT , Oviedo-Vargas D , Ashley L , Brolis A . 2025. National Capital Region Network Inventory and Monitoring Program Stream Water Quality and Quantity Monitoring Protocol: Water Chemistry, Nutrient Dynamics, and Surface Water Dynamics Vital Signs, Version 3.0, 2025. Science Report. NPS/SR—2025/362. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2315848

The Potomac River Basin is home to more than six million people and the second largest drainage of the nine river basins that form the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Although great progress has been made toward water quality improvement in the basin, streams and rivers in the area have continued to show trends in increasing salinity, higher stream temperature, higher concentrations of nutrients, and other indicators of degraded water quality. In 2005, the National Capital Region Inventory & Monitoring Network (NCRN I&M) of the National Park Service (NPS) initiated a long-term water quality and quantity monitoring program, carried out through discrete sampling visits to long-term monitoring stream sites within NCRN parks. Parks monitored with this protocol include Antietam National Battlefield, Catoctin Mountain Park, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Monocacy National Battlefield, National Capital Parks–East, Prince William Forest Park, Rock Creek Park, and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The streams monitored are all part of the Potomac River watershed. The monitoring sites include streams whose watersheds are undeveloped and within National Park boundaries, as well as streams whose watersheds are mostly external to park boundaries, encompassing a variety of urban and agricultural landscapes outside the parks. The goal of the NCRN is to monitor whether stream water quality in park streams is suitable to meet management goals for well-functioning, native ecological communities. The vital sign selection process of the NCRN I&M identified water quality and quantity information as a critical need for the parks of the NCRN. Data collected using this protocol provides much needed status and trend information for park streams, to better understand how changes in watershed land use, climate, and other factors are affecting the stream ecosystems. This protocol contains background information about the purposes of the NCRN water vital signs monitoring, stream water sampling design, field and laboratory methods, and data quality procedures. Acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, specific conductance (including conductivity, salinity, and total dissolved solids (TDS)), and water temperature are monitored to better understand stressors to stream ecosystems such as acidification, increased temperatures, and pollutant pulses. Nitrogen and phosphorus (as total nitrogen and total phosphorus) are monitored to provide information about nutrient pollution in park streams. Water depth, wetted width, velocity, and discharge are monitored to better understand water quantity, and better explain water physical and chemical dynamics.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Myers, Daniel; Oviedo-Vargas, Diana; Ashley, Lindsay; Brolis, Andrejs
Date of Issue
2025-11
Publisher
National Park Service
DOI
10.36967/2315848
Units
ANTI , CATO , CHOH , GLEC , GREE , GRFA , GWMP , HAFE , MANA , MONO , NACE , NCR , NCRN , OXHI , PISC , PRWI , ROCR , SUIT , WOTR
Keywords
Acid Neutralizing Capacity, Algae, Ammonia, Conductivity, Depth, Discharge, Dissolved Oxygen, Flow, NCRN Protocol, NCRN Water Protocol, Nitrate, pH, River, Salinity, Specific Conductance, Stream, Stream Flow, Surface Water Dynamics, Temperature, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Turbidity, Water, Water Chemistry, Water Quality, Water Quality Monitor, Water Quality Monitoring, Water Resources, Width
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Nutrient Dynamics

Full text (PDF)

Series

See also

Browse the catalog