Stream Flow Monitoring

Under the 2012 MS4 permit, the State required that all communities subjected to the Permit must implement a program to monitor stream flows and precipitation on any stormwater impaired watershed. The MS4 communities partnered with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to retain Stone Environmental and Fitzgerald Environmental Associates to implement the project in 2015. The project covers 9 stormwater impaired watersheds in Chittenden County and St. Albans. There are a total of 16 individual sites monitoring precipitation, stream flows, or both. Within the Town of Essex and Essex Junction, there are 2 sites – one on Indian Brook and one on Sunderland Brook. As data is collected, it is uploaded to the monitoring page linked here. Please click on the link to learn more about the project and to explore current stream and weather conditions.  

Below is a photo of the stream flow monitoring station set up on Indian Brook. 

In 2021, DEC decided that the MS4s did not need to continue flow monitoring, because it was unlikely that changes in flow could be detected with less than 10 years of flow data and that to properly evaluate the effect of project implementation across a watershed, it would be necessary to collect flow data for at least 6 years post project implementation. While DEC agreed that the requirements under the stormwater permit had been fulfilled, and that additional flow monitoring was not required, the MS4s felt that collecting additional flow monitoring data would be useful to assess compliance towards meeting the TMDLs once the FRP projects are implemented and that there were risks associated with discontinuing flow monitoring that may not be realized for a few years out.

Indian and Sunderland Brooks are stormwater impaired in the Town. The Town decided to move forward with flow monitoring on Indian Brook, because FRP for Sunderland Brook showed that the high flow target was being met and no additional projects needed to be constructed. Four projects needed to be constructed under the Indian Brook FRP between the Town and City of Essex Junction and both communities agreed it would be beneficial to continue the flow monitoring.

In 2022, the Town entered into an agreement with Stone Environmental to continue flow monitoring on Indian Brook with costs to be split 50/50 between the Town and City. The agreement for flow monitoring will continue until 2028.