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City accepts 2024 aquatic community monitoring report; staff to publish interactive story map
Summary
Public Works presented the 2024 Aquatic Community Monitoring Report, noting incremental river improvements, new freshwater mussel sampling, and plans to publish data via an interactive GIS-based story map for public access.
The Elkhart Board of Public Works on April 8 accepted the city's 2024 Aquatic Community Monitoring Report, marking the program's 27th year of operation and highlighting incremental ecological improvements in the St. Joseph River.
Dara Degan, water quality manager, said long-term monitoring is showing improvements in fish-community metrics and a decline in pollution-tolerant species. "The river is doing good. It has been doing good for a while," she said, and noted staff are seeing "more species being found in surveys or less tolerant fish." Degan also said the program has begun freshwater mussel sampling to provide additional indicators of water-quality change because mussels are sensitive, long-lived species that can reveal trends over time.
Why it matters: the monitoring program provides long-term biological and chemical data used to guide stormwater and wastewater planning, outreach, and regulatory compliance. The report and underlying datasets will be made public via an interactive story map to support outreach and research.
Details
- Program history and scale: The monitoring program began in 1998 and has conducted thousands of fish- and macroinvertebrate-community surveys over nearly three decades.
- Findings: Degan described incremental improvements in the river's biological community, including shifts away from more tolerant fish species and increasing presence of less tolerant species. Staff emphasized that improvements are gradual and ongoing.
- New sampling and public data: Staff started freshwater mussel sampling in 2024 to strengthen long-term ecological indicators. Degan said the department will publish an aquatic biology story map (hosted via GIS resources and linked from the city website) so residents, researchers and students can access reports and the raw data.
Next steps: The report will be placed on the story map and associated data will be available for public download; staff will continue seasonal sampling and outreach.
Ending: The board accepted and placed the 2024 report on file by voice vote.
