Last month, James River Basin Partnership (JRBP) staff and volunteers conducted water quality monitoring on Jordan Creek in central Springfield (Mo.) for the City of Springfield.
JRBP partners with the City’s Department of Environmental Services as part of their outreach and education efforts for their Municipal Separate Storm System, or MS4, permit, which requires communities of 10,000 people or more to maintain a separate infrastructure that removes stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas.
Benthic macroinvertebrates, those bottom-dwelling river critters lacking a backbone, tell us a lot about the overall health of rivers and streams.
A more diverse macroinvertebrate population, one that includes macroinvertebrate species sensitive to pollution, tells us that efforts are working to protect our most valuable resource – our local water.
