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Connecticut Networks Section Summer Update

The Hydrologic Monitoring Program’s Connecticut Networks Section responded to recent high flow events to verify stage-discharge relationships and has been hard at work this summer installing new gages and performing maintenance on the Connecticut gage network. 

During the summer of 2020, measured flows throughout CT were well below average exhibiting drought conditions. In contrast, measured flows during the summer of 2021 have been well above average.

As shown in the graph below, the peak at Mount Hope River (USGS Station 01121000) on July 18, 2021 is the highest peak of record (81 years of record starting in 1941) and Hydrologic Technicians flagged several high-water marks which will be used to calculate an indirect measurement of discharge.

The photograph shown below was taken during a high flow event at Mount Hope River earlier on July 9, 2021. The high discharge was the result of heavy precipitation from Tropical Storm Elsa.

High-water marks were also flagged at Natchaug River near Chaplin, CT (USGS station 01120790).

Comparison of streamflow from summer 2020 vs summer 2021 at Mount Hope River near Warrenville, Connecticut
Comparison of streamflow  from summer 2020 vs summer 2021 (June 26 – July 26) at Mount Hope River near Warrenville, CT. (Public domain.)

 

High flow event at Mount Hope River near Warrenville, Connecticut
High flow event at Mount Hope River near Warrenville, CT (USGS station 01121000). (Credit: Timothy Sargent. Public domain.)

 

An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on the Natchaug River near Chaplin, Connecticut
An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on the Natchaug River near Chaplin, CT (USGS station 01120790). (Credit: Timothy Sargent. Public domain.)

Two new tidal monitoring gages have been established at the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and the Saugatuck River in Norwalk, CT. The tidal gages are funded by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) to support a water quality project monitoring nutrient loading in two embayments in CT.

Tidal monitoring gage, Mystic River in Mystic, Connecticut
Tidal monitoring gage on a drawbridge over the Mystic River in Mystic, CT. (Credit: Patrick McNamara. Public domain.)

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