8 – Plan for monitoring water quality (1998)

(This is a part of a series of gleanings from the history of CRC’s 30 years of work; additional posts available here.)

In 1998, CRC followed and supported the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s new plan for monitoring water quality in Cave Creek and South Fork Creek. Both streams had been designated Unique Waters in Arizona on April 23, 1996. The designation as Unique Waters allows the Department of Environmental Quality to deny permits for projects that would significantly degrade the water quality of Cave Creek. It applies from the headwaters down to the boundary of Coronado National Forest.

This first effort to monitor water quality gave us baseline data, so that scientists can judge when water quality is degrading. The first sampling assessed the impact on water quality following Memorial Day weekend, a time of heavy recreational use.