Site Description

Site ID: SB04
Clinton Township, Hunterdon County
Stream Category: FW2-TM (Category 2, Trout maintenance waters)
Site monitors Raritan River South Branch (River Rd to Spruce Run) subwatershed (HUC: 02030105020070)
The site is located just downstream of the Hamden Road bridge, along the South Branch Preserve.

What is being monitored at this site?

  • Biological and Visual Assessments (?)
  • Chemical Testing (?)

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Water Quality Data

Each June, Raritan Headwaters scientists and volunteers visit 72 stream sites in the North and South Branch Raritan Watershed Region (WMA8) of New Jersey to collect data on the health of our streams.  Data collected includes a sample of benthic macroinvertebrates (used to calculate the High Gradient Macroinvertebrate Index;HGMI score), an assessment of the habitat in and around the stream, and chemical conditions in the water.  Chemical parameters include dissolved oxygen, phosphate, chloride, specific conductance, nitrate, turbidity, pH, and temperature. The HGMI is used by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to determine if the site is meeting state and national water quality standards under the Clean Water Act. Click here to learn more about our stream monitoring program and water quality reports.

Site Data for SB04

Select a parameter below to view annual data. Hover over the chart to get more information.

Threats and Recommendations

The HGMI at SB04 was found to be good in 2019, which means it was not biologically impaired. SB04 has consistently scored good or excellent with respect to HGMI, meaning that this stream has very high water quality. Though the HGMI scored high, the habitat scored sub-optimal. This site suffers from heavy bank erosion, lack of bank vegetative protection, and insufficient riparian zone width.  Increasing the bank vegetative cover and widening the riparian zone will help to decrease the bank erosion  and increase bank stability at this site. In systems like this, we must make an effort to preserve high water quality, while also mitigating the habitat issues.

SB04

SB04

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