Blackstone River Monitoring

Upper Blackstone conducts voluntary water quality monitoring of the Blackstone River to examine trends including the impact of treatment plant upgrades and process optimization. The program has now compiled a data set spanning more than 10 years.

The annual program generally runs from April through November in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) and CDM Smith. The Narraganset Bay Commission's Water Quality Initiatives also monitor surface water quality in Rhode Island. Data from the monitoring program is shared with MADEP and other organizations to aid in management decisions. More details on the project are posted at the WRRC project page.

There is a link to the most recent river monitoring report at the left of this page.

Please visit our 2024 storymap for more information and data. Previous years' storymaps are also available:

2023 storymap   2022 storymap   2021 storymap   2020 storymap   2019 storymap 

For data on water quality in Narragansett Bay, see also the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program for reports and GIS Data.

For more information on watershed-wide initiatives check out the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative.