Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2018

Water-quality conditions and constituent loads, water years 2013–19, and water-quality trends, water years 1983–2019, in the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island

“…Nimiroski and Waldron (2002) described potential sources of Cl and Na in the Scituate Reservoir drainage area. The USGS published annual wateryear summary reports of streamflow, water-quality conditions, and chloride, nutrient, and bacteria loads and yields for WYs 2002-19 (Breault, 2010;Breault and Campbell, 2010a, b, c, d;Breault and Smith, 2010;Smith and Breault, 2011;Smith, , 2015aSmith, , 2018aSmith, , b, 2019aSmith, , 2022a, and more comprehensive summaries for WYs 1996WYs -2002WYs and 2002 are presented in Nimiroski and others (2008) and Smith (2015b), respectively. Since 1993, the USGS has cooperated with PWSB and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) to measure streamflow at Ponaganset River (USGS streamgage 01115187; PWSB station 35) and Peeptoad Brook (USGS streamgage 01115098; PWSB station 16) (fig.…”

“…Water-quality data from WYs 2013 -19 were obtained annually from a water-quality database maintained by PWSB and are published in USGS annual reports and data releases (Richard Blodgett, Providence Water Supply Board, written commun., 2005-19;Smith, 2015aSmith, , 2018aSmith, , b, c, d, 2019aSmith, , b, 2021Smith, , 2022a. During WYs 1996-2019, water-quality samples were collected monthly at 19 stations and quarterly at 18 stations in the Scituate Reservoir drainage area (table 1).…”

Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2019

“…The USGS also has been continuously measuring specific conductance at 14 monitoring stations since 2009 (table 1). Equations that relate specific conductance to concentrations of chloride and sodium in stream water were developed as part of previous cooperative studies of the USGS and the PWSB (Nimiroski and Waldron, 2002;Smith, 2015bSmith, , 2018aSmith, , 2021a. These equations, used together with measured (or estimated) streamflows, allow for nearly continuous estimation of chloride and sodium loads to the reservoir.…”