Water Monitoring in Cherryville
Water Monitoring Since the Late 2000’s…
There has been a simple water monitoring system on Cherry Creek since the late 2000’s. Water depth and temperature were recorded. There are sensors are in the water that connect to a data recorder which measures the sensor once a minute and produces an hourly average of these parameters.
In 2019 the Eureka Multi-probe sensor was added. There have been many challenges. We had to move the station twice along Cherry Creek. Once was due to the bank stabilization work done at the the Sugar Lake Road bridge. A second time the sensor was moved because the box containing the recorder and battery were vandalized. A third location was chosen but it may still not be the final spot. The multi-probe will be on Cherry Creek once we have determined the best spot given the installation requirements.
Manufactured by Eureka Water Probes, our water sensor is called a multi-probe, which is actually several sensors in one package. The different sensors measure various parameters or aspects of the water, such as: water temperature, pH (the acidity or alkalinity), the turbidity(how muddy the water is), Nitrate, Ammonia and Chloride and a few other parameters which measure various ions in the water.
In addition to the stationary water sensors in Cherry Creek, water sampling are gathered and taken to a water quality laboratory in Kelowna. This kind of water sampling will continue because there are critical parameters which cannot be measured by the current water sensors. The main parameter is E. coli, a bacteria which can cause sickness and even death. With the increase of cattle activity in our area, it is even more important to measure and evaluate changes in E.coli levels. Due to the cost, our water samples are infrequent and at times we do not measure the changes that can happen between samples. For example, the recent combination of warmer temperatures and much rain caused all waterways to rise and become turbid, but our manual sampling could have missed that event. By recording some of the more important parameters we will have a better idea of the variability of water quality in our local waterways.
For more information and water sample results visit The Water Stewards page.
