What do MWA River Watchers do?

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River Watcher volunteer water quality teams apply a variety of tests to assess the health of the Musconetcong River. Four times per year volunteers test water chemistry and take physical measurements at five locations on the river.  Each year they also evaluate the physical habitat, and collect aquatic organisms (called benthic macroinvertebrates) that indicate the presence of pollutants and changes in the river environment.  Together these tests provide MWA with important information about local water quality and general ecosystem health.

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Where do River Watchers monitor?

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The monitoring sites are located at Willow Street in the Port Morris section of Roxbury Twp, in Hackettstown on Route 57, near the bridge on Point Mountain Rd in Mansfield Twp, on Shurts Road in Franklin Twp and off of Mt. Joy Road in Finesville. For a map of the sites where we collect data, click here.

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What does MWA do with the data?

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Each year we report the data we collect to the Musconetcong River Management Council and to the public. In 2015 we released the data in a new format: the Musconetcong Water Quality Report Card.

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MWA also uses River Watcher data to:

• Ensure the water quality in the Musconetcong River remains suitable for recreational uses such as fishing, swimming, and boating;

• Advocate for the river when proposed projects threaten the health of the Musconetcong River and its tributaries;

• Observe how stream restoration projects such as stream bank stabilization, riparian restoration and dam removals improve the river habitat; and

• Track how preservation of land, improved development controls, and pollution prevention programs all help keep the river ecosystem healthy.