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Stream Water Quality and Resources in Long Island Sound

By USGS Science in Long Island Sound and its Watershed

The USGS has active and completed projects directed at characterizing and monitoring variation in stream chemistry and constituent fluxes (loads) to Long Island Sound.

Trends in Nitrogen Loads at Connecticut Rivers
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Trends in Nitrogen Loads at selected monitoring sites in the Long Island Sound basin, Connecticut, water years 1974-2013

The USGS is collecting (or has collected) continuous discharge and continuous and discrete water-quality data as numerous locations on rivers and streams that drain to Long Island Sound from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.

Data collection is supported by various federal, state, and local programs and is collected for many objectives.  

Depending on the constituent of interest and the frequency and temporal extent of the data it can be used to estimate current and historical trends in nutrient and contaminant loading to the estuaries and embayments of Long Island Sound. Links to the monitoring programs are provided under the Monitoring Programs area in this website accessed from the homepage.  

The discharge data support assessments of water use and sustainability, drought monitoring, and flood forecasting. In addition to surveillance monitoring USGS programs include assessments of water use and sustainability and sources of fecal contaminants.