Stream Biomonitoring
Biological monitoring, also called biomonitoring, is the evaluation of environmental health by examining the living community. It is based upon differences among plant's and animal's ability to tolerate pollution and habitat degradation. Biomonitoring is an attractive tool because stream life is affected by many factors simultaneously and therefore biomonitoring is a reflection on many aspects of stream health. Additionally, stream life can be impacted by even briefly poor water quality that might not be captured by traditional water samples. Two types of stream biomonitoring occur in Anoka County.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) uses fish biomonitoring. They sample the fish community of area streams and rivers and calculate indices of stream health based upon the fish species present and their tolerance levels, as well as the diversity found. The MPCA does use fish biomonitoring in determining its impaired waters listings. For more information on this program, visit the MPCA's website.
The Anoka Conservation District heads efforts to biomonitor streams using aquatic macroinvertebrates in Anoka County. All but one of the metropolitan counties has a similar program, and all these programs are coordinated to ensure data are comparable. The aquatic macroinvertebrates studied are aquatic insects, snails, clams, worms and other organisms that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye (macro) but lack a backbone (invertebrate). The MPCA does not utilize the invertebrate biomonitoring data in determining impaired waters listings, but is developing methodologies and indices customized to each region of the state. Currently most invertebrate biomonitoring efforts around the metro are coordinated by the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Partnership (VSMP).
To view or download raw data about a particular stream from this website, use our Data Access tool. To read the latest narrative summary for a particular stream, use the links in the Rivers and Streams Directory. To see the locations of the monitoring sites, use the mapping utility and check the "monitor sites" box.
