A new way of measuring the relative habitability of freshwater environments for fish and aquatic insects suggests that New Jersey’s water monitoring and treatment standards could use a boost.
A new way of measuring the relative habitability of freshwater environments for fish and aquatic insects suggests that New Jersey’s water monitoring and treatment standards could use a boost.
Using a standard they created for measuring potentially damaging nutrient levels in freshwater streams by measuring the prevalence of single-celled algae, called diatoms, researchers from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University analyzed environmental data from 95 river and stream sites in six ecological regions of New Jersey.
The team’s findings revealed that New Jersey’s current allowable threshold for dissolved nutrients in its streams is likely too high.
These nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, frequently find their way into bodies of water from surface runoff from agricultural areas and direct discharges from municipal sewage treatment plants.
In aquatic environments, high nutrient levels can have harmful effects, including algal mat growth and low dissolved oxygen levels — which make the environment uninhabitable for fish and macroinvertebrates, like freshwater clams and aquatic insects.
Read more at Drexel University
