Water Quality Monitoring
Fish Creek and parts of Flat Creek have been listed on Wyoming’s Impaired Waters list since 2020 for elevated E. coli bacteria levels. Despite this, regular monitoring of bacteria levels in these waterbodies has not occurred.
POWJH launched a collaborative water quality monitoring program in Spring 2023 to provide data critical to safe recreation and informed management of each creek. To launch the program, POWJH advocated for and raised over $100,000 from community partners, including Teton County, the Town of Jackson, Teton Conservation District (TCD), Trout Unlimited, and a private charitable organization, which funded the collection of continuous and monthly water quality data from 5 locations on each creek from May to September. This data is critical to the overall understanding and management of Fish Creek, Flat Creek, and the Snake River.
In 2024, POWJH successfully handed off the implementation and funding of these programs to TCD. This collaborative monitoring program ties in the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ), Wyoming Health Department, Wyoming Public Health Lab, and local Teton County Health Department health officials with up-to-date information to guide the management of public recreation and restoration of these waterbodies.
Samples were collected by Alder Environmental LLC and submitted to TCD for Quality Assurance/Quality Control, and then to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for use-support determination. Results were returned to Teton County Health Department to inform the placement of Water Quality Awareness or Waterborne Pathogen Caution signs at public access sites on each creek.
In 2024, we are funding a United States Geological Survey (USGS) temperature gauge on the Snake River and working on a long-term agreement with the USGS to install and operate monitoring equipment on Fish Creek, which is about to become the first in Wyoming to be added to the Impaired Waters list for nutrient pollution. Expanded water quality monitoring capacity on the creek will directly support the Fish Creek Watershed Plan (FCWP).
