Water Resources Stewardship Reports
Monocacy National Battlefield

Network Monitoring Reports
NCRN 2005 - 2006 Water Resources Monitoring Report

Resource Brief
Water Resource Monitoring Brief

The National Capital Region's long-term water monitoring program funded in part by the Water Resources Division is designed to ensure the National Capital Region's parks possess science-based information needed for effective resource management.

The NCRN Water Resources Program monitors two vital signs: Water Chemistry wbich deals with parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, pH, acid neutralizing capacity, and Nutrient Dynamics (ammonia, nitrate, and total phosphorus). These parameters provide information that characterize a waterbody or stream segment, are fundamental components of monitoring and regulatory programs, and are relatively easy to measure with multiparameter probes or Hach test kits.

In addition to monitoring chemistry and nutrients the Network is also monitoring the biologic health of streams and has adopted the protocol used by the State of Maryland's Biological Stream Survey Program. Using this protocol, the Network monitors aquatic macroinvertebrates, fish and the physical habitat of streams.

The Water Quality Monitoring Program strives to develop partnerships among other National Park Service divisions, educational institutions, governmental agencies, and private sector organizations such as the Maryland Water Monitoring Council to manage, maintain, and analyze regionally common water resource inventory and monitoring data sets in accessible and usable forms in support of the regions long-term natural resource preservation, protection, and education.