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Water Quality Tests in the Potomac Basin

Tests are from the WV Department of Agriculture. Tests and locations have varied over time. There are three separate files of data:

Water samples from the Potomac's South Branch and its tributaries. These two files have the same format and can be combined. They were too large to post on this website
Click to download readings from January 2000 to March 2003 (731 kilobytes of .zip format, expands to 3 megabytes of .xls format; 7,381 tests)
Click to download readings from January 1998 to December 1999 (341 kilobytes of .zip format, expands to 1 megabyte of .xls format; 4,605 tests). Readings from Jan-June 1998 were for training. They are included, but are not official.

North Branch, its tributaries, and direct tributaries of the Potomac, click to download readings from 10/99 to 3/03 (367 kilobytes in .xls format; 661 tests)

Helpful explanations of the issues are in a study, done with other data by Cacapon Institute for the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Item

WV Standard

Units

pH, measured by meter (acidity: 0-7 acid; 7-14 alkaline)

6-9

 

Temperature

a long standard; like Turbidity in that it mostly regulates temperature rises rather than ambient temperatures

degrees Celsius

Conductivity

none

 

Alkalinity

see pH

 

Hardness

 

 

Sulfate

 

 

Total suspended solids (TSS)

No distinctly visible floating or settleable solids, suspended solids…; no distinctly visible color; also see Turbidity

milligrams/Liter?

Dissolved solids

 

milligrams/Liter?

 

Total solids

 

 

milligrams/Liter?

 

 

Fecal coliform bacteria

 

colonies per 100 milliliters?

Total Phosphorus

none. Being developed; won't have one for several years

milligrams of Phosphorus per Liter

Ortho Phosphorus

 

milligrams of Phosphorus per Liter

 

 

Ammonia

standard for un-ionized ammonia based on a formula that accounts for pH and temperature.

mg of Nitrogen per Liter

Turbidity (dispersion of light)

source can't raise stream more than 10 NTU, except on streams over 50 NTU, can't raise more than 10 NTU+10%

NTU: Nephelometric Turbidity Units (10 is nearly clear, 50 is noticeably muddy, 500 is extremely muddy. Often TSS units are 3 times NTU or less, but NTU is raised by algae as well as solids)

Calcium

 

 

Nitrate, NO3

10 mg/L human health

milligrams of Nitrogen per Liter

NO2

 

milligrams of Nitrogen per Liter

N_2_N_3

 

milligrams of Nitrogen per Liter

Dissolved Oxygen
(in North Branch file only)

 

 

The example below is from the first file:

Site number

Site description

Date when water was sampled

Time when water was sampled

pH (acidity: 0-7 acid; 7-14 alkaline)

Temperature

Conductivity

Total_P

Ammonia_N

N_3_N

Date/time Sequence (use for sorting)

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

11-Apr-03

1131

8

6.6

81.7

0.04

0.243

0.3

12051

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

20-Mar-03

112 (typo?)

8.2

7.9

109.3

0.0097

0.022

1.1

11925

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

11-Feb-03

1237

8.5

3

200

0.0065

0.008

1.2

11654

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

10-Jan-03

1218

8.2

5

119.8

0.0065

0.079

1.1

11440

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

22-Nov-02

1219

8.3

7.8

128.3

No Test

0.089

0.1

11154

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

18-Oct-02

1143

8.2

11.6

128.9

0.0097

0.127

0.8

10912

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

13-Sep-02

1135

8.1

18.8

266

0.0065

0.045

0.2

10645

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

27-Aug-02

1203

7.8

22.4

230

0.0097

0.027

0.2

10523

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

19-Jun-02

No Meters

 

 

 

0.0065

0.04

0.6

10131

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

19-Jun-02

1126

No Meters

 

 

0.0065

0.067

0.3

10120

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

17-May-02

1240

7.9

17.4

165.2

0

0.63

1

09895

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

24-Apr-02

1141

No Meters

 

 

0.0097

0.234

1

09753

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

29-Mar-02

1229

8.4

12

142.7

0.0032

0.184

0.6

09556

SF-SF9

SF@Co. Line

22-Feb-02

1144

8.1

7.6

227

0

0.213

0.2

09309