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 Walker Point sondes were deployed for the 2026 season on May 7, 2026. The Bullock Reach sondes were deployed on May 28, 2026.
​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
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Water Quality Summaries
Research Vessel
First Boat Trip of the Year: Chasing nutrients on the water
After months of waiting and prepping, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of gliding over the water as the world wakes up around you. Our mission this trip? To gather […]
Fixed-Site Network
August 31 – September 6, 2026
Walker Point Overall, water quality at Walker Point was poor to good this week. Weather conditions were moderately rainy this week, with a total of 0.98 inches recorded at T.F. […]
Water Column Profiles
September 9, 2026
Water column profiles were conducted using a Seabird Electronics profiler at seven locations in the Providence River and one location in the Seekonk River on September 9, 2026. In the […]
Water Clarity
September 9, 2026
Water clarity was measured at eight locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on September 9, 2026. In the five days prior to the survey, 0.06 inches of […]
Surface Mapping
September 9, 2026
Surface chlorophyll data were collected on September 9, 2026, while the R/V Data Stream was underway collecting bacteria samples in the Providence and Seekonk River Estuaries. The average chlorophyll concentrations were categorized […]
Nutrients Sampling
August 19, 2026
Nutrient samples were collected from six river stations and seven bay stations on August 19th. All bay stations were sampled at the surface and bottom. In the five days prior […]
Bay Bacteria Sampling
September 9, 2026
On September 9th, 2026 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
August 5, 2026
Phytoplankton samples were collected on August 5, 2026 at Bullock Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. The water temperature was 25.39 °C, the salinity was 21.83 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 […]