Creekwatchers
Wicomico River Creekwatchers
Wicomico River Creekwatchers serves all communities in the Wicomico River watershed, including most of Wicomico County and portions of Somerset County.
Since 2003, this program has been scientifically monitoring water quality, educating the community about the watershed, and providing objective data and trend analyses to assist government leaders and individuals in making decisions affecting the health of the watershed and the Chesapeake Bay.
Salisbury University student volunteers, under the direction of science faculty, analyze water samples for total:
Nitrogen
Nitrates
Phosphorus
Phosphates
Salinity
Chlorophyll A
Bacteria levels.
The information obtained by the Creekwatchers program is a valuable resource for anyone who lives in or visits the area and uses the watershed for swimming, hiking, boating, fishing, hunting, bird watching, and other outdoor activities.
Biweekly, from mid-March through early November, about 50 trained volunteers collect water samples and record weather conditions at 26 sites along the Wicomico River and its tributaries, from Delmar to Mount Vernon.
The results of each sampling season are presented in an annual report. Local government officials use these reports to guide decisions that could affect the health of the river or the Chesapeake Bay. All reports are available to view here
Interested in becoming a Creekwatcher? Let us know here.
Takeaways from 2022
The 2022 sampling season showed that the Wicomico River watershed continues to improve in several water-quality measures. Freshwater and pond sites showed slightly increased water clarity and a significant drop in chlorophyll a compared to long-term averages over the past two decades. Dissolved nitrates and total nitrogen levels, though still elevated at many sampling sites, were below the level of concern. Dissolved nitrates, in particular, showed significant improvements over the long-term averages.
On the other hand, while dissolved phosphate showed a significant decrease compared to the long-term average, total phosphorus was significantly higher in 2022 than the long-term average. This continued upward trend now indicates that all types of sites sampled have crossed the threshold to be considered impaired; however, these opposite trends between dissolved and total phosphorus likely indicate releases from stored phosphorus as the riverbed is disturbed rather than increased new inputs to the watershed.
The Wicomico River is becoming saltier, with lower (southern) portions of the river significantly saltier in 2022 than the long-term average. This is consistent with sea-level rise along the Mid-Atlantic coast. Saltwater incursion brings with it a higher pH (increased alkalinity) in those same areas.
Bacterial counts, taken at a larger number of sites for the 2022 bacterial sampling season (Memorial Day to Labor Day), showed mixed results. At some sites (Johnson Pond, Schumaker Pond, River Wharf), the bacterial count was low enough for swimmability on 100% of sample dates, better than the long-term averages. At other sites (Northwest Wicomico, Wikander), the water had bacterial counts low enough to be considered swimmable on more than 50% of the sample dates. In the ponds, bacterial counts considered unsafe for swimming occur mostly in late spring and early summer; in the tidal portions of the river, elevated bacterial levels tend to begin in July.
But there is a lot more to safe swimming than just bacterial counts. For your safety, avoid swimming in any portion of the river or its tributaries without checking with the Wicomico County Health Department first.