In 1975, just as development of the lower watershed was beginning to accelerate, the United States Geological Survey closed the Hopewell Junction stream gauge. The Beacon stream gauge had already been shut down in 1967. There has thus been no consistent data on streamflow, a frequent measure of development's impact on a stream, since then. At the time of their respective closures, the Beacon station showed a slow decline in discharge, while the Hopewell Junction station showed an increase. A 1992 study predicted that if current demographic and hydrologic trends continue both the Fishkill and Sprout could expect to have an annual weeklong dry period by 2035.