Since 1999, the Petitcodiac Watershed Alliance (known as the Petitcodiac Watershed Monitoring Group at the time) has collected water samples from May to October to study bacteria, nutrient, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and sediment levels. Two sampling sites, one upstream from the causeway and one downstream, were used during the 2009 study. The river had an average temperature of in August at the upstream location, in contrast to the average of at the same site over the total period of the study. "E. coli" levels were high upstream, and above recreationally safe levels downstream in June, July, and August. Nitrates and phosphates failed to meet the safe quality threshold on occasion. A publication by the New Brunswick Department of Environment in 2007 showed that the watershed did not meet the quality guidelines for "E. coli" in 10 percent of samples, for dissolved oxygen in 5 percent of samples, and pH in 3 percent of samples; in contrast, the river was always within safe nitrate levels.