Water Monitoring Along Tongue River Watershed To Start Soon

Various water bodies in Sheridan County will soon be inspected but it’s not being done to determine how the water tastes.

Members of the Sheridan County Conservation District will soon start their summer season water monitoring projects to check for things such as water temperature, aquatic habitat, as well as bacteria and sediment impairments.

The monitoring has been going on since 1996 and it occurs on a yearly rotation between the Goose Creek, Tongue River and Prairie Dog Creek watersheds.

Last year the monitoring was done along Goose Creek, and this year it will be done on the Tongue River.

Jackie Turner is a program specialist for the District.

She says the reason for the sampling is to determine how effective past projects along the waterways have been, and where improvements, if any, need to be made.

“We like to document changes over time in the water. Gives us an idea of the practices we’re implementing, better management practices, things like that, if it’s making an impact, and also seeing what’s happening, what’s changing if anything, and if there’s anything we could be doing differently or, better ways to get with landowners to put practices on the ground.”

Turner adds there will be 13 sites along the Tongue River and associated tributaries where water monitoring will take place.

Samples will be collected on 10 different days from mid-May to mid-September.