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
August 4 – 10, 2025
Phillipsdale Landing Overall, the water quality at Phillipsdale Landing was fair this week. Weather conditions were dry, with no precipitation recorded at T.F. Green. The Blackstone River flow fluctuated throughout […]
Water Column Profiles
October 15, 2025
Water column profiles were conducted using a Seabird Electronics profiler at five locations in the Providence River and one location in the Seekonk River on October 15, 2025. In the […]
Water Clarity
October 15, 2025
Water clarity was measured at six locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on October 15, 2025. In the five days prior to the survey, 2.39 inches of […]
Surface Mapping
October 15, 2025
Surface chlorophyll data were collected on October 15, 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
October 29, 2025
Nutrient samples were collected from thirteen river stations on October 29th. In the five days prior to sampling, trace amounts of precipitation were recorded at T.F. Green. Among the river […]
Bay Bacteria Sampling
November 19, 2025
On November 19th, 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
October 1, 2025
Phytoplankton samples were collected on October 1, 2025 at Bullock’s Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. It was sunny and breezy on this day. The water temperature […]
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 […]