Baseline Water Quality
In 2006, Milwaukee Riverkeeper established a network of trained citizen-science volunteers who monitor streams and rivers throughout the Milwaukee River Basin during the months of May through October. Our volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program is part of the statewide Water Action Volunteers (WAV) Stream Monitoring Program managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX).
Monitoring sites are located within the three major watersheds and corresponding subwatersheds of the Milwaukee River Basin:
- Milwaukee River Watershed:
- North Branch Milwaukee River Subwatershed
- East and West Branch Milwaukee River Subwatershed
- Cedar Creek Subwatershed,
- South Branch Milwaukee River Subwatershed
- Menomonee River Watershed
- Kinnickinnic River Watershed
Our volunteer water quality monitors aid in keeping tabs on our water quality throughout the year and serve as additional “eyes, ears and noses” in the field. Our volunteer water quality monitors help recognize and identify questionable practices, erosion control violations, illicit discharges, and more. Our volunteer water quality monitoring program builds on the WDNR’s and UWEX’s efforts to improve the quality and quantity of citizen science data used to monitor the health of our waterways.
Baseline Water Quality Parameters
We monitor for many different parameters, including temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, phosphorus, and streamflow. We also monitor aquatic macroinvertebrates at select sites.
Monthly measurements taken at each monitoring site are compared to temperature standards for warm or cold water fisheries depending on the classification of the stream at which they were taken.
Maximum Temperature
Warm Water Sport Fisheries: 31.7 C
Cold Water Trout Fisheries: 22 C
Dissolved oxygen measurements are taken using a dissolved oxygen Hach test kit, a YSI 550 dissolved oxygen probe, or other WDNR approved meters calibrated before entering the field.
Warm Water Fisheries: 5 mg/L
Cold Water Fisheries: 6 mg/L
pH measurements are taken monthly at each site using either an Oakton Acorn 5 or 5+ pH sensor.
pH must be between 6.0 – 9.0
Milwaukee Riverkeeper volunteers take monthly measurements of water clarity or transparency using a 120 cm transparency tube, those measurements are converted into NTU. MMSD procedures utilize electronic meters at each site that measure turbidity in FNU because of their specific light source.
≥ 54.7 cm in a 120 cm transparency tube (<10 NTU) is ideal for aquatic life. MMSD uses sensors to test turbidity, so a target of <10 FNU was used for their data.
A subset of Milwaukee Riverkeeper volunteers collects samples monthly that are sent to the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene for analysis. Phosphorus measurements from the WDNR SWIMS database and MMSD’s routine surface water monitoring are collated and analyzed.
The Wisconsin State Standard for phosphorus is 0.075 mg/L in streams, and 0.1 mg/L in larger rivers specifically designated in state rule NR 125.
Milwaukee River Basin Report Card
Each year, Milwaukee Riverkeeper staff analyzes the baseline data collected by our more than 100 volunteer water monitors, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), and Ozaukee County Parks and Planning Department’s Fish Passage Program. Milwaukee Riverkeeper staff compares data to state and federal water quality standards and guidance and then assigns letter grades based on how frequently the data meet those standards.
In addition to the baseline water quality parameters, Milwaukee Riverkeeper factors in targetted parameters such as chloride, specific conductivity, and bacteria.
Sign up to be a volunteer water quality monitor!
Let us know you are interested becoming a volunteer water quality monitor. We’ll add you to our email list to receive more information about upcoming training sessions and other opportunities to get involved. If you have additional questions, please email our Water Quality Assistant Sonya Ponzi.
Thanks to our funders for their generous support of this program!