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.
Providence Conditions
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
August 19 – 25, 2024
Phillipsdale Landing Sondes were swapped this week on the morning of August 20th. Overall, the water quality at Phillipsdale Landing was good to fair this week. Weather conditions included sporadic […]
Water Column Profiles
May 21, 2025
Water column profiles were conducted at eight locations in the Providence and Seekonk River estuaries on May 21, 2025 using a Seabird Electronics profiler. In the five days leading up […]
Water Clarity
October 30, 2024
​Water clarity was measured at seven locations in the Providence River and Seekonk River estuaries on October 30, 2024. In the five days prior to the survey, 0.03 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
December 18, 2024
On December 18th, 2024, fifteen stations were sampled for fecal coliform bacteria in the Providence and Seekonk Rivers; four of these stations were also sampled for enterococci bacteria. Further sampling […]
Phytoplankton Sampling
April 17, 2025
Phytoplankton samples were collected on April 17, 2025 at Bullock Reach and analyzed in the laboratory shortly after collection. It was sunny, clear and breezy 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 […]