Outer Island Pier Water Quality (2023)

          Water quality parameters were monitored by the CSU interns during the summer 2023 from May 25^th to September 2^nd. Water quality monitoring occurred each day at 2:00 pm from the end of the floating dock. Water quality parameters monitored included: water temperature, salinity, conductivity, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, Secchi disk depth, turbidity, and pH. All measurements were made on water samples collected from at a depth of one meter.

         Salinity measurements showed little variability, with a range of only 23.1 ppt (7/19) to 27.9 ppt (6/20), while conductivity showed a slightly larger range from 33.90 mS (5/25) to 41.03 mS (8/7) (Figure la). Both parameters showed similar variability compared to previous years. Water temperature gradually increased from the spring to the end of the summer. Water temperature ranged from 15.1°C (5/25) to a high of 25.5°C (7/28). Variations in water temperature over the summer correlated well with changes in measured air temperature (Figure 2). Dissolved oxygen concentrations were highest initially (9.85 mg/L) on 5/25 and showed a decrease over the summer months correlating with increasing temperatures reaching a low of 6.52 mg/L on 7/27 (Figure lb).

          Water clarity, as measured by a Secchi disk, varied from 0.8 m (7/13) to 1.8 m (6/1) during the monitoring period (Figure 3a). pH ranged from a low of 8.06 (6/6) to a high of 8.66 (7/23) (Figure 3b). Like other parameters this season, water clarity/turbidity and pH showed similar variations with previous years.

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