Monitoring the Health of the Upper San Diego River

March 15, 2018

By Trent Biggs, San Diego State University

The Upper San Diego River Watershed is the largest source of local water supply in San Diego County, and its creeks drain into El Capitan Reservoir. The streams and creeks that drain into the Reservoir are relatively healthy but they are under continued threat of degradation from natural and man-made sources. The overall project includes scientific and community engagement activities designed to quantify, protect, and enhance the water quality in the watershed.

Map of the water shed area.

SDSU’s role is to establish a real-time water quality monitoring station that will push data on pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, organic matter, turbidity and algae concentration directly to the web for scientists, managers, and the public to visualize water quality and how it changes with season and storm events.  SDSU will also collect water samples to determine the loads of sediment, nutrients, and carbon coming from the upper San Diego River watershed, which will serve as a baseline for natural systems in the region.  Future work will attempt to quantify the role of management activities on water quality, including riparian vegetation management and road maintenance.

For more information about this project, please go to SDSU's Watershed Science Institute at https://watershed.sdsu.edu/

SDSU Master of Science student in Geography Garrett McGurk is installing an YSI Probe into a casing. The data is being sent back via a new connection to HPWREN.