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Water Samples
Staff using a bottle to collect a water sample in a stream.
We collect samples at 18 locations every three months. Each location is a major tributary or stream that flows to the Neuse River.
We use water quality meters to read chemical data and take water samples. An independent lab analyzes the samples. This information helps gauge stream health. It is also a requirement of our stormwater permit.
See where we're monitoring | You can help us monitor streams!
Aquatic Insect Samples
Staff using a kick net to collect insect samples.
Benthic macroinvertebrates are aquatic insects that live in streams. They include aquatic worms, snails, clams, and crayfish.
Samples are taken at 22 stream locations once a year. We use kick nets and D-nets to collect and study the insects.
Did You Know?
Benthic macroinvertebrates are large enough to see without a microscope. The meaning comes from:
- Benthic = bottom of a waterbody
- Macro = large
- Invertebrate = animal without a backbone
Water Quality Indicators
Aquatic insects are an important part of the food chain and don’t survive without clean water. All living organisms rely on each other and a healthy environment to live.
- Mayflies eat leaves, algae, decomposing plants, and other smaller organisms in a stream.
- Larger aquatic organisms, like darter fish, feed on these insects.
- Larger fish or fish-eating birds, like great blue herons, eat darter fish.
- As adults - mayflies are food for insect-eating birds, amphibians, and mammals that live near a stream.
- Larger predators, like the red-shouldered hawk, eat these animals.