Photo: Kendra Zamzow measuring water depth at a CVTC stream sample site in the winter.
Surface Water Quality Monitoring
For nearly a decade we have measured the chemistry of stream water in the Matanuska Watershed. We measure the water pH, temperature, turbidity, amount of oxygen dissolved in the water, and the ability of the water to conduct electricity. These measurements help to identify the basic health of the stream, in the same way a medical provider would take a person’s pulse, height and weight at a clinic visit. These measurements are taken every month at 19 stream sites in the Ts’itonhtna’ nene’ (Matanuska River watershed) using two hand-held field meters. We go all the way from Caribou Creek in the east to Wolverine Creek in the west and have several sites along Moose Creek. We are the only group collecting this type of information in the Matanuska River watershed. Overall water quality is excellent for fish and wildlife, except at the small outlet stream of Wolverine Lake, which gets very warm in summer and has low dissolved oxygen in winter. Going out every month also means we can observe changes at each site — like plants that look strange or when young fish emerge. In late October one year, adult coho salmon were observed spawning in Buffalo Creek which had not been documented in decades and now this creek has been added to a catalog of salmon streams in Alaska for additional water quality protections.
For more information on this water monitoring program contact Kendra Zamzow at 907.745.0749.