Stream Gauge on Hastings

Finch Creek has never had any study, although it probably provides a critical part of the water supply to the Carmel River. A few months ago, Greg James of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District offered some of his older equipment to allow us to put in a stream gauge. This is strictly a research project to study the hydrology of the area and maybe to entice some faculty from CSUMB or UC Berkeley to come study the creek. We dug a deep hole for the measuring staff, and to keep the root-bound stream bank from collapsing (it is just sand held together by willow roots) I built a small stilling well and wall behind it. There are 5 wheelbarrows of rock and good deal of steel rod and wire holding it together. Kevin Browne, the UC NRS information tech was here last week, and we used the older Campbell 510, with an NL-100 to get the data online. Jaime and Mark worked on a 180 foot trench to provide power and ethernet to the installation. It will take some time to gather data to convert the transducer pressure readings to flow values. But, in a year or so, Greg will do the measurements and we will convert the raw data to CFS estimates and plot those. We hope to install a webcam to watch the stream level. Check out the website for flow data.