Research undertaken by the Watershed Center and other partners serves the scientific community as well as policymakers, private business, shoreline property owners, citizens and others who are concerned that sustained regional population growth may have negative impacts on our water resources.
Ongoing water quality monitoring is vital to measuring the health of the bay and developing trends. The Watershed Center coordinates a variety of different monitoring projects:
Beach E.Coli Monitoring
The Watershed Center periodically monitors public beaches along Grand Traverse Bay for E.Coli during spring and summer. This is a coordinated effort with the Grand Traverse and Benzie/Leelanau County Health Departments. Beaches that we test include:
- Northport
- Suttons Bay
- West End Beach in Traverse City
- Clinch Park in Traverse City
- Bryant Park in Traverse City
- East Bay Park in Traverse City
- Traverse City State Park Beach
- Empire
- Frankfort
For results of this monitoring see the report titled: Public Beach Monitoring Results in our Interactive Water Quality Database.
Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer Monitoring
Adopt-A-Stream is our popular volunteer monitoring program. This ongoing citizen-based volunteer program samples macroinvertebrates, or aquatic insects, which are good indicators of stream health.
