Water Quality and Testing

The Huntington District USACE operates a water quality monitoring program through which multi-purpose reservoirs and their respective watersheds are intensively monitored on a rotating 5-year schedule. Monitoring involves regular sample collection and measurement of physical water quality parameters (e.g. temperature, pH, etc.) over the course of approximately 1 year.

Timing, frequency, types of samples collected, and specific analyses are determined based on four specific flow periods as described in Table 1 below. The greatest workload for routine monitoring primarily occurs between June and September of each year.

However, special investigations such as those related to environmental events, could result in large numbers of samples in short periods, at off-peak times of the year, or require a rapid turnaround time.The Huntington District Water Quality Program also routinely samples sediment and soil at dredge and disposal locations as part of the USACE Navigation Channel Maintenance Program.

Locations are sampled once per year on a 3-year rotating schedule in order to maintain compliance with Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certifications. This type of sampling generally occurs in late summer or early fall, but is subject to change based on environmental events, unusual weather conditions, or unforeseen stipulations from State regulatory authorities.