Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project
The Rouge River Project
Bringing the river back to life!

2001 Sampling Data

Baseline water quality conditions within the Rouge River Watershed have been evaluated using a variety of data since 1994. These data resulted from instream dry and wet weather continuous monitoring, instream dry and wet weather intermittent sampling, bacteriological sampling, and aesthetic observations.

2001 is the last year in which bacteria, oxygen demand, nutrient, total suspended solid, and aesthetic data were collected. The 2001 Baseline Data Summary Report summarizes four categories of data to represent water quality in the Rouge:

Water temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations;
Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD₅), ammonia, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids concentrations;
E. coli counts; and
Aesthetics.

For purposes of evaluating the data for each water quality parameter, results are compared to applicable State water quality standards or other criteria and guidelines. A rating system was developed to assess the general condition of each site (good, fair, or poor) for each parameter. In this system certain ranges of values represent a condition rating for each site based on the actual statistics for the parameter of interest. These rating ranges for each parameter are summarized in the following table. Note that these ranges and ratings are somewhat subjective judgments, and are not universally accepted in the scientific community. Nevertheless, they are useful for communicating data comparisons and trends to non-technical users.

2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings and Data Ranges

As in previous years, the 2001 data indicated that all of the Rouge River branches were degraded to some extent. Among the four branches, the upstream reaches of the Main (Main 1-2) and the Middle (Middle 1 and Middle 3) appear to have the best water quality overall. The downstream reach of the Lower (Lower 2) has the poorest water quality. The Upper branch has intermediate water quality. Sampling site locations and SWMAs are shown on the map below. Summary tables of dry weather condition ratings of the sites sampled in 2001 are presented following the map.

Main 1-2 SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Main 3-4 SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Lower 1 SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Lower 2 SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Middle 1 SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Middle 3 SWMA Stations 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

Upper SWMA Stations: 2001 Dry Weather Condition Ratings

The following chart summarizes the ranking of all dry weather stations in each Subwatershed Management Area, as a percentage of the total number of stations in 2001. The Main 1-2, Middle 1, and Middle 3 had the highest percentages of stations ranked as Good, and the fewest ranked as Poor. The Lower 2 had the fewest percentage of stations ranked Good and the highest ranked Poor. The Lower 2 represents the opposite situation. However, extreme local variations may exist at particular stations within each area.

Rouge Dry Weather SWMAs: Comparative Ranking Summary, 2001

Last Updated: 7/5/2004

Please address all comments and suggestions about the contents of this Web page to rougeweb@co.wayne.mi.us.

The Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project is funded, in part, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants #XP995743-01, -02, -03, -04, -05, -06, -08 and C-264000-01.