September 2018

September 18 – a sunny day after about a week of cloudy skies and rain – and cooler temperatures. In the last 2 weeks we’ve had nearly 3 inches of rain; in the last 3 days we had .3 inches (for runoff considerations).

The stream had a bit more water in it. Enough that the waterfall flow spread along most of the ledge, rather than just at one section, as has been the case for the past months. There was no surface algae and very little submerged algae. The crossing trail had some dry rocks, and it would have been tricky to walk across with dry feet. And the gravel bar which has existed for years on the downstream side of the bridge is gone. And all 4 columns of the bridge are at least partially in water.

Thanks to the rain, vegetation has greatly increased.  It’s green! And the dissolved oxygen was higher than expected at 5.8 – probably due to the recent rains.

Aquatic life… saw a turtle at the sample site, and a few minnows/gambusia upstream. Not much else. And no pigeons or other birds.

There was no detectable e-coli.

Observations:

Air temp 29 C
water temp 25 C
specific conductance 370
pH 7.0
transparency: > 1.2 meters

 

sample site from north bank

streamside view of sample site

stream from bridge to trail crossing from north bank

trail crossing area

closeup of trail crossing

no gravel bar downstream side of bridge

stream under bridge

stream under bridge from upstream side

south bank and under bridge

mostly dry stream bed upstream bridge side

downstream view from waterfall

stream from atop culvert

upstream view from under bridge

stream between waterfall and culvert

stream around waterfall and beyond

waterfall with no algae

dry inlet above waterfall

downstream view from above inlet

dry sometime island rocks

low stream above inlet

dissolved oxygen 5.8