Muncy Creek (DHALO), Lycoming County, 5/28/21

[duckfoot]

May 28

1800 - North of Picture Rocks; DHALO section of Tivoli
Air Temp: 76F
Water Temp: 70F
Water pH: 8.3
Water TDS: 60 ppm
Water Salinity: 20 ppt
Water Conductivity: 80 uS/cm^3
Bugs: #16 sulphurs, #16 apple caddis
Water Clarity: clear
Water Depth: 1 feet to 8 feet (very low)

No rain for over a week. Water temp has spiked hard because of the warm sun and no colder rain. Hatches are intermittent, but fish are still had on traditional nymphs. Some slight risers near evening for the sulphurs.

Didn't see the usual massive caddis shucks on the rocks that I usually do every year. Very strange.

 

[duckfoot]

pH meter might need calibrated. Take with a grain of salt until verified.

 

[Mike]

There is certainly a meter problem. You should have 0 salinity. A salinity of 20 ppt is brackish water as you find in a bay. 35 ppt would be the ocean. You could possibly get 20 ppt below a poorly contained road salt pile following or during a storm, but suspect such a salinity would be toxic to trout and many other freshwater species.

I also think the pH 8.3 is suspect, unless perhaps you were below a major sewage treatment plant, the treated sewage comprised about half more of the stream flow, the stream had lots of vascular aquatic plants or filamentous algae, and it was a bright, sunny day.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Mike, there is another thread with a few posts discussing the meter. Good catch on salinity, I didn't even look at that parameter measure. This section of Muncy Creek I do not believe has a sewage treatment plan t above it. I would guess it's all only systems, holding tanks for camps and likely some rogue discharges. The headwaters of muncy creek is EV.

 

[duckfoot]

I'd agree on the tester. For what it's worth, it is an Oakton ECOtestr CTS model. I just ran my tap water with the following parameters:

TDS: 40 ppm
Conductivity: 50 uS/cm^3
Salinity: 0.00 ppt
Temp: 72.7F

The pH meter is an Oakton Testr pH30. Same tap water, roughly 2 min equilibriate:

7.02 @ 25.2C

Not sure what's up.

EDIT: Cross referencing with my Fishing Creek reports, they also tested 0.00 ppt salinity.