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 2024 season on April 2, 2024 and were retrieved on December 4, 2024. The Bullock Reach sondes were deployed on May 22, 2024 and were retrieved for the season on November 18, 2024.
​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
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
July 30, 2025
Water clarity was measured at eight locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on July 30, 2025. In the five days prior to the survey, 1.91 inches of […]
Surface Mapping
July 30, 2025
Surface chlorophyll data were collected on July 30, 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
July 23, 2025
Nutrient samples were collected from seven river stations and seven bay stations on July 23rd. All bay stations were sampled at the surface and bottom. In the five days prior […]
Bay Bacteria Sampling
Trolls In the Narragansett Bay: Adventures in Bacteria sampling
Most people picture Narragansett Bay as calm, sparkling, and post card-perfect. But if you’ve ever been out there in a small boat with a cooler full of sample bottles and […]
Phytoplankton Sampling
July 8, 2025
Phytoplankton samples were collected on July 8, 2025 at Bullock’s Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. It was sunny, hot, and humid on this day. The water […]
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 […]