Friends of the Middle River is a subcommittee of the Friends of the Shenandoah River (FOSR). Nutrient monitoring for Middle River is done by a combination of FOSR and FOMR volunteers.

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The Friends of the Shenandoah River maintains, operates and funds a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality level III long-term volunteer citizen scientist water-quality monitoring program.

 

Once a month water samples are collected at over 80 designated sites throughout the Shenandoah/Potomac watershed, including 11 sites in the Middle River watershed, by trained and certified citizen scientist volunteers. The water samples are then transported to the FOSR’s state-accredited laboratory that is located on the campus of Shenandoah University for analysis.  Some of the water-quality parameters that the FOSR tests for include: ammonia, orthophosphate, nitrate, turbidity, conductivity, and E. coli bacteria.

 

The FOSR manages and houses the long-term database that contains the data collected by this water quality monitoring effort and other monitoring projects measuring water quality in the Shenandoah River watershed and other watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Its value increases with the length of the record and is a tool crucial to understanding and resolving critical water quality issues plaguing the Shenandoah River.  Once a year the water quality data generated by the FOSR is delivered to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality which in turn includes the data in the Virginia Water Quality Assessment 305 (b) Report and the 303 (d) Impaired Waters Report to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The FOSR also provides unrestricted access to the water-quality data on their website.

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For the Middle River watershed portion of FOSR's nutrient monitoring, water samples are collected at the following tributaries and areas:

 

• Back Creek

• Summerdean

• Eidson Creek

• Trimble's Mill

• Bells Creek

• Morris Mill Rd.

• Swoope

• Whiskey Creek

• Jennings Branch

• Moffett Branch

• Spring Hill

• Lewis Creek

• Verona

• New Hope

• Christians Creek