Monitoring of Bushkill Creek is conducted monthly by local citizens of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Water quality is monitored at 24 locations (depicted on the map below) using Lamotte test kits. Please contact us for excel files of the stream data.

In addition, Lafayette students often conduct stream sampling at several locations in the watershed during the fall semester each year. Field parameters are measured and samples are run for major ions at the Civil & Environmental Engineering analysis lab. Automated stream gauges obtained by grants through NSF and Growing Greener are maintained by Lafayette faculty, and continuously record stream stage, conductivity, and temperature at several locations in the watershed. Easton Area High School students have monitored the Bushkill in Easton near the Rt 22 overpass, and Pen Argyl High School students monitor water quality in the Little Bushkill near Grand Central.

In addition to these data, there have been a variety of studies of macroinvertebrates in the watershed, starting with the work of Dr. Pat Bradt in the 1970s. Dr. Megan Rothenberger’s students currently conduct monitoring in the lower Bushkill.

Collectively, the monitoring data are used to identify problem areas of the stream, as well as to serve as a baseline against which to compare future water quality data. The program has identified several areas in the lower Bushkill as impaired.