Water Quality Monitoring

There are a number of reasons for examining marine water quality conditions around Cape Cod.  These include a general concern over conditions degrading the health of inshore waters, as well as interest by local fishermen, shellfish harvesters and aquaculturists as to how water quality may be affecting the health, numbers, and distribution of the fish and shellfish stocks.  The Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Marine Program, in cooperation with SEMAC, has monitored water quality at a number of marine or estuarine locations around Cape Cod, though 4 embayments in particular have been monitored long term: Wellfleet Harbor, Barnstable Harbor, Pleasant Bay (Orleans), and Cotuit Bay (for monitoring site maps see the WQ sites & maps page).  These sites are located in areas of aquaculture activity and have been monitored for a number of years in hopes of capturing the typical daily and seasonal fluctuations specific to the body of water as well as any longer term changes or trends.  The accumulated historical dataset is available following our in house quality control analysis on our Archived Data page, and specific requests beyond what is available here can be made to the marine program staff.

Curious what the current water temperature is, if there is food in the water, or how salinity changed during that last rainfall?  Two of the seasonal data logging stations, Wellfleet Harbor and Cotuit Bay, are equipped to collect and transmit data every 15 minutes.  These data, including salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll, are then uploaded via a mobile phone link to the web.  You can view and explore this most recent data at our YSI EcoNet site by following the Direct Link to WQ Website & Current Data under YSI Water Quality Monitoring.    

Shellfish Farming and Water Quality

There is growing interest in the effects of shellfish farming on water quality. Interestingly, shellfish potentially can improve water quality by grazing down blooms of phytoplankton (associated with increased nutrient inputs, particularly of nitrates). We are working with researchers on field tests of the effects of shellfish on denitrification rates and improved water quality conditions.  Please keep posted for more information.