July 2011 Monitoring

Posted by: upperwalnutcreekaustin | July 12, 2011

July 2011 Monitoring

Hot and dry is the theme for this summer. Looks like we are on track for the Hottest and Driest Summer Ever In Austin title. That’s one I could do without.

The creek shows the effects of the continuing drought – very low, no visible current, and a lot of scum on the surface. The water in the sample pool was actually several inches lower than we’ve ever seen it since we started monitoring nearly 5 years ago.

Despite the conditions – expected low oxygen, etc – we saw numerous tiny fish swimming around, some near the sample pool and many more upstream of the waterfall.

Observations:

water temp 26 C (79 F)
air temp 28 (82 F)
dissolved Oxygen: barely 1.3 (about 15%)- very low, as expected.
conductance 520
pH was a neutral 7.0 and nitrites were also low, as always.

E-coli counts were also low, actually in the acceptable range for an urban stream at the sample site: 300 colonies in a 1 ML sample. The control site upstream at the waterfall had 550 colonies.

We previously noted work done on a hike & bike trail that would go through the site (survey paint and a short temporary fence), but no work has been done in the last few months. Turns out that work has been halted because of problems with the plans, per the June 2011 Impact News article.

Time for everyone to start washing our cars and leaving ’em outside…maybe that will bring some rain!