Suspended-sediment concentration and turbidity data for sites in the upper Esopus Creek watershed New York, 2016-19

The upper Esopus Creek is the primary tributary to the Ashokan Reservoir, part of the New York City (NYC) water supply system. Suspended-sediment concentration (ssc) and turbidity are primary water-quality concerns in the NYC water-supply system, particularly in the upper Esopus Creek watershed. In 2016 the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Geological Survey entered into a collaborative agreement to conduct a comprehensive study of suspended sediment and turbidity in the upper Esopus Creek watershed. Objectives included ssc, streamflow, and turbidity monitoring, and development of turbidity-ssc regression equations to estimate ssc from continuous turbidity measurements. Cross-section and point suspended-sediment samples were collected at 14 monitoring sites in the upper Esopus Creek watershed through most of the range in streamflow and turbidity measured at the monitoring sites. Turbidity-ssc regression equations were developed for the monitoring sites for the period October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2019. This data release contains the data used to develop the turbidity-ssc regression equations and diagnostic plots for each monitoring location.