Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

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Citizen's Water Quality Monitoring Program

Sub-pages:     1996 Water Quality Report  |   Eutrophication Index

Related Pages:     Nitrogen Management Tools  |   Subwatershed Data  |   Massachusetts Estuaries Project  |   Coalition State of the Bay Reports

Background and Origins of the Program

The Buzzards Bay citizen-based water quality monitoring program, was initially jointly implemented by the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program in the spring of 1992. The program was designed by Dr. Joe Costa and Dr. Brian Howes to address the need to monitor and evaluate nitrogen impacts to coastal waters as outlined in the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The Buzzards Bay nitrogen monitoring assessment approach was formulated in 1990 and 1991, and was articulated in this 1992 publication: Costa, J. E., B. L. Howes, A. Giblin, and I. Valiela. 1992. Monitoring Nitrogen and indicators of nitrogen to support management action in Buzzards Bay, p. 497-529. In McKenzie et al. (eds) Ecological Indicators, Elsevier, London. The first Baywatchers Report was published in 1992 (read the 1992 Baywatchers Report, 850 kb pdf).

The citizen's program measures dissolved oxygen concentrations with Hach Kits^TM, secchi depth, salinity, and temperature approximately 15 times between June 1 and September 30. The citizens also collect 2-4 water samples during summer, which we analyze for dissolved, and particulate organic nitrogen, nitrate + nitrite, ammonia, orthophosphate, and chlorophyll. The samples are analyzed by Howes' laboratory at the UMass SMAST program, using the methodologies are described by Howes and Goering (1994).

The Coalition organizes and trains the citizen volunteers and coordinates data collection and entry, and today provides most funding for the program. Generally 2 to 4 sites within each embayment are monitored in each embayment. In some smaller embayments only one site is monitored; in larger embayments 5 or more sites were sampled. Samples for nutrient analyses are taken on outgoing tides, while oxygen and secchi data included both incoming and outgoing tides because the oxygen measurements were needed in the early morning hours, generally taken between 6-9 AM, as indicated by Taylor and Howes, (1994).

Eutrophication Index

One key innovation of the program was its attempt to combine a basket of indicators into a single Eutrophication Index to communicate monitoring findings more succinctly to the public. The Buzzards Bay Eutrophication Index was created by Dr. Joe Costa in 1992 as a tool to present a simplified summary of the Citizen's monitoring program data in the first Baywatchers Report, issued December 1992. The Index was modeled after a water quality index adopted by Hillsborough County in Florida to evaluate changes in Tampa Bay water quality. This water quality index approach was based on defining, for each water quality parameter used, a "poor" water quality value (0 points), and an "excellent" water quality value (100 points). The adoption of the specific 0 and 100 point values used in the index was made based on a review of existing data and after consultation with Dr. Brian Howes, who had set up the monitoring program with Dr. Costa. The values are log transformed in the formula for calculating the index because of the log-normal ecosystem response to nitrogen loading. More details on the methodology are provided on our Eutrophication Index page.

Funding of the Program

In the first 4 years of the program, the Buzzards Bay NEP funded the startup of the program and provided funding provided nearly all the funds necessary to operate the program, which included funds to the Coalition for Buzzards Bay for a monitoring program coordinator and funds to a research laboratory to provide for water quality analyses. In the mid-1990s, the Buzzards Bay NEP suspended funding to the water quality monitoring program due to federal cutbacks. During that time, the Coalition continued the program with grants and donations. They also received roughly $10,000 annually from Buzzards Bay municipalities. In later years, the Coalition was able to secure state funding through an earmark of the state legislature of $50,000 to $150,000, which now pays for a large portion of monitoring costs, and enabled the Coalition to expand nutrient testing further upstream some estuaries. Today, the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program has been providing between $20,000 and $30,000 annually to support the program. Through the years, the Coalition has continued to fund unmet needs through donations and fund raising.

Reporting of Results

In December 1992, the Buzzards Bay NEP issued the results of first year of monitoring in the first Baywatchers' report. A second Baywatchers Report was issued in the spring of 1994 (read the 1994 Baywatchers Report 1.8 MB pdf file, not all graphics rendered). In the Fall of 1996, the Buzzards Bay NEP National Estuary Program and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay jointly issued the third Report of the Buzzards Bay Citizens' Water Quality Monitoring Program 1992-1995. This report can be viewed on this 1996 water quality report page. After this report, The Coalition assumed all management and results reporting for the program. For subsequent reports and the latest information on the Coalition's water quality monitoring program, go to The Coalition for Buzzards Bay website.

Future of the Program

Since 1996, the program has been operated exclusively by the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, and has become one of the foremost programs of its kind in the country. The Coalition has also expanded their citizen monitoring efforts to include stream water quality monitoring, as well as monitoring certain living resources, like River Herring counts on key rivers of the Buzzards Bay watershed. The Buzzards Bay NEP is a strong advocate of these efforts to continue monitoring Buzzards Bay in order to collect the data of water quality trends in response to continued pollution pressures and to help evaluate the success of efforts to restore Buzzards Bay

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