Facilitating communication and collaboration among groups and individuals managing EnviroDIY monitoring stations and conducting supplemental sampling and data collection in the Delaware River Basin.
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Conductivity spike
- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 9:14 AM on 2019-06-20 by David Bressler.
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Buck Sleuman
I have a question regarding a spike in the conductivity reading on SL246. First off let me start by saying that this site is new (installed 5/12/19) so I have no history to go on.
For the first day the conductivity reading ran around 520. Then as the depth increased the conductivity fell to a low of 237. As the depth started to recede the conductivity started to rise slowly moving up 120 uS/cm over the next 3 days. Suddenly on the 4 day the conductivity spiked up to 662 for a short time (increase of 318). Within 2 hours it returned 350.
My question then is, is this type of spike to be expected? What possible set of conditions could cause such a short-lived event?
http://drwisensors.dreamhosters.com/charts_cond_SL246.php
See attached screen shot
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David Bressler
@sleuman, this type of spike is fairly common in winter as road salts are washed in (cond at this site on 2/15/19 was 1200 uS/cm), but it is less common this time of year. It’s interesting that in addition to the major spike you point out there are additional smaller and more gradual increases in conductivity during times when depth was elevated. This is a highly developed area (see attached) so there are lots of potential sources. The main spike is substantial and seems like it must be from a facility of some sort. The watershed is sizeable and as @chalfant pointed out during our recon there are several industrial effluents in the watershed.
Since there is a tributary coming into Mill Creek on the same side of the stream as the station next time there is one of these rises in cond you could check the trib to make sure it’s not coming from there. That would be a start to figuring out a source. The cond of the trib on 2/15/19 was 250 uS/cm.
It will be interesting to see what happens here over time. The current storm hasn’t resulted yet in any major cond spikes – will see what happens the rest of today.
http://drwisensors.dreamhosters.com/charts_cond_SL246.php
Attachments:
Buck Sleuman
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