Chester Testers

In 1993, the Chester River Association, in partnership with LaMotte Company of Chestertown, established the first long-range water quality monitoring program on the Chester River. LaMotte Company, which is nationally recognized for its water quality testing kits, provided materials and staff time to establish the highest measure of quality assurance in the program.

For the first ten years of the Chester Testers, Centreville Middle School was an active partner as well, providing crucial analysis of the data collected by volunteers on a computer program written and updated by members of the Ecology Club. Over the years, Chester Tester data has been presented at numerous public meetings, as well as to Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, who invited student presenters to speak to members of Congress.

Prior to the Chester Tester program, most monitoring done on the Chester was conducted by government agencies in the context of specific short-range projects. The goal of the Chester Testers was to provide a long-range picture of water quality at 16 sites on the Chester’s main stem for over a decade. Teams of trained volunteers conducted the testing on a bi-monthly basis. The data that was collected since the beginning of the program has progressed from basic dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature and water clarity, to nutrient collection. The use of colorimeters donated by LaMotte has also increased the potential of the program.

The Chester Testers program has also encouraged the state of Maryland to do additional testing on the river by installing sophisticated Continuous Monitoring Buoys at various sites on the river.  To access the information provided by the monitoring buoys on the web, go to http://mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/eyesonthebay/index.cfm 

Recently, the test sites have been moved to the streams that feed the Chester River in order to accurately assess sources of  pollution. The findings of the Chester Tester volunteers have been used by CRA to substantiate water quality conditions at various locations in the watershed, and have been used to focus on specific polluters as part of our River Advocacy Program.