SNAPSHOT OF UPPER NARRAGANSETT BAY
The Narragansett Bay Commission’s (NBC) mission is to protect and enhance water quality in Narragansett Bay by providing safe, cost-effective, and reliable wastewater treatment services.
A critical aspect of our mission involves understanding the water quality in the Bay and watershed to ensure that regulations and infrastructure investments remain anchored in sound science. To this end, since the early 2000s the NBC has maintained an extensive receiving water monitoring program, measuring water quality parameters throughout the watershed, sampling for bacteria and nutrients, and making these data publicly available. Please explore this website for data and details.
The NBC’s Phillipsdale Landing sondes were deployed for the 2025 season on May 6, 2025. The Bullock Reach sondes were deployed on June 10, 2025.Â
​Please note: Fixed-site data are made available in near real-time direct from field-deployed instruments. They have not undergone quality control review.
Water Quality Initiatives
Fixed-Site Data
Learn More
Water Quality Summaries
Research Vessel
Bullock Reach Buoy
On a bright and warm June morning, the EM team embarked on the inaugural deployment of the RIPDES required monitoring Bullocks Reach buoy, marking the commencement of this season’s environmental […]
Fixed-Site Network
June 30 – July 6, 2025
Phillipsdale Landing Sondes were swapped this week on July 1st. Overall, water quality at Phillipsdale Landing was poor to good this week. Weather conditions were moderately rainy this week, with […]
Water Column Profiles
July 8, 2025
Water column profiles were conducted at eight locations in the Providence and Seekonk River estuaries on July 8, 2025 using a Seabird Electronics profiler. In the five days leading up […]
Water Clarity
August 20, 2025
Water clarity was measured at seven locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on August 20, 2025. In the five days prior to the survey, 0.89 inches of […]
Surface Mapping
August 13, 2025
Surface chlorophyll data were collected on August 13, 2025, while the R/V Monitor was underway collecting nutrient samples in the Providence and Seekonk River estuary. The average chlorophyll concentrations were […]
Nutrients Sampling
August 6, 2025
Nutrient samples were collected from thirteen river on August 6th. In the five days prior to sampling, 0.46 inches of precipitation were recorded at T.F. Green. Among the river stations […]
Bay Bacteria Sampling
August 27, 2025
On August 27th, 2025, twenty stations were sampled for fecal coliform bacteria in the Providence and Seekonk Rivers; five of these stations were also sampled for enterococci bacteria. In the […]
Phytoplankton Sampling
July 23, 2025
Phytoplankton samples were collected on July 23, 2025 at Bullock’s Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. The water temperature was 23.72 °C, the salinity was 28.61 psu, […]
Benthic Video
September 25 – October 1, 2022
​The boat crew conducted benthic video surveys along the Bullock Reach, Edgewood, and Sabin transects on September 29, 2022. Scale lasers were used in the footage at Bullock Reach and […]