Big Chico Creek Water Quality Monitoring

Main | Data Table | Temperature | Electrical Conductivity | pH | Dissolved Oxygen | Turbidity | Nutrients | Metals

Disclaimer: Data presented on this webpage were acquired following internal (non-standard) procedures and are therefore for information purposes only and not citable until independent peer review and publication.

Why is it important to monitor nitrate and phosphate?

Resource: Water Resources - Nutrient and Eutrophication (USGS)

Nutrients naturally occur in water, but too many nutrients, mainly nitrate and phosphate, create algal blooms which lead to eutrophication. Eutrophication occurs during the die-off of the algae and subsequent bacterial degradation that uses dissolved oxygen and produces CO₂, resulting in low dissolved oxygen concentrations which can be fatal. Storm runoff and wastewater are primary sources of excess nitrate and phosphate.

Phosphate and Streamflow in Big Chico Creek

*one phosphate outlier was removed from the visual and can be located on the data table: 10/12/2021, 1.65 mg/L

Nitrate and Streamflow in Big Chico Creek