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
September 16 – 22, 2024
Phillipsdale Landing Sondes were swapped this week on the morning of September 17th. Overall, water quality at Phillipsdale Landing was good to fair this week. Weather conditions included sporadic rain […]
Water Column Profiles
June 11, 2025
Water column profiles were conducted at seven locations in the Providence and Seekonk River estuaries on June 11, 2025 using a Seabird Electronics profiler. In the five days leading up […]
Water Clarity
June 25, 2025
Water clarity was measured at seven locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on June 25, 2025. In the five days prior to the survey, 0.01 inches of […]
Surface Mapping
May 21, 2025
Surface chlorophyll data were collected on May 21, 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
February 19, 2025
Nutrient samples were collected from six river stations on February 19th. No samples were collected from bay stations due to adverse weather conditions. In the five days prior to sampling, […]
Bay Bacteria Sampling
June 4, 2025
On June 4th, 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
May 14, 2025
Phytoplankton samples were collected on May 14, 2025 at Bullock’s Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. The water temperature was 16.64 degrees Celsius, and the salinity was […]
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 […]