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Surf Your Watershed (maps and data)
Directory of Citizen Volunteer Monitoring Programs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center
NOAA NWS/OH Hydrologic Information Center
U.S. DOI Bureau of Reclamation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
19 October 2001
Volunteer Water Monitoring
Across the country, private citizens are learning about water quality issues and helping protect our Nation's water resources by becoming volunteer monitors. Volunteers are analyzing water samples for dissolved oxygen, nutrients, pH, temperature, and a host of other water constituents; evaluating the health of stream habitats and aquatic biological communities; inventorying stream- side conditions and land uses that may affect water quality; cataloging and collecting beach debris, and restoring degraded habitats.
State and local agencies may use volunteer data to screen for water quality problems, establish trends in waters that would otherwise be unmonitored, and make planning decisions. Volunteers benefit from learning more about their local water resources, identifying what conditions or activities might be contributing to pollution problems, and working with clubs, environmental groups, and state or local governments to address problem areas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supports the volunteer monitoring movement in a number of ways. It sponsors national and regional conferences to encourage information exchange between volunteer groups, government agencies, businesses, and educators; publishes sampling methods manuals for volunteers; produces a nationwide directory of volunteer programs; and through its ten Regions, provides some technical assistance (primarily on quality control and lab methods) and Regional coordination. Grants to States that can be used to support volunteer monitoring in lakes and for nonpoint source pollution control are also managed by the EPA Regions.
Every year, many new volunteer monitoring programs are formed in the United States. Some programs have as many as several thousand volunteers. Many programs, however, are small and often affiliated with neighborhood associations, schools or local environmental organizations. Today, there are literally too many to count.
Below is a list of sites dedicated to volunteer water quality monitoring. This is a great way to find existing projects where you can get involved.
National Volunteer Monitoring Sites
- EPA's Volunteer Monitoring Program
- Volunteer Lake Monitoring
- National Volunteer Monitoring Conference in Madison, WI
- Official Government Version of National Volunteer Monitoring Conference Events
- Volunteer Monitor (our bi-annual newsletter)
- Directory of Citizen Volunteer Monitoring Programs
- EPA Region III VM Site
- Final Report of the Intergovernmental Task Force on Monitoring Water Quality
- The Great American Secchi Dip-In
- Save Our Streams Project of the Izaak Walton League of America
- River Watchers by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission
- River Watch Network
State Volunteer Monitoring Programs
- Ohio Citizen Lake Awareness and Monitoring
- Minnesota's Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program (CLMP)
- Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
- Massachusetts Water Watch Partnership
- Kansas Collaborative Research Network
- Indiana's "RIVERWATCH / CRAWDAD"
- Iowa Volunteer Water Monitoring Directory
- Missouri STREAM TEAM
- The Alliance For Aquatic Resource Monitoring,
- Kentucky Water Watch Program
- Ohio's Scenic Rivers Program Stream Quality Monitoring Project (great bug pictures!)
- Mississippi Headwaters River Watch Project
- Alabama Water Watch
- Maryland's Save Our Streams Program
- North Carolina State University "Watersheds site"
- Watch Over Washington
- Texas Watch Volunteer Environmental Monitoring Program
- University of Rhode Island Watershed Watch Program (URIWW)
- Michigan Lake and Stream Association's lake Self Help Program
- Illinois EcoWatch Network.
K-12 Based Educational Programs
- Corvallis High School RIPARIAN MONITORING PROGRAM, Western Montana
- Tower Hill students working at the Brandywine River
- Crooked River Project(Northeast Ohio)
- Student Water Quality Study of Lower Wheeling Creek (excellent report layout)
- Calloway County High School, Kentucky
- "G.R.I.P." or "GSAMS, Rivers, Internet Project," Georgia
- Horizons High School Environmental Studies program Excellent student-designed on-line data management system!
- Root River 2000 Project
- Coon Rapids High School Great River Project
Estuary Volunteer Monitoring Programs
- Estuary-Net Volunteer Monitoring: National Estuarine Research Reserve System
- San Francisco Estuary Institute San Francisco Estuary Institute
- Estuary-Net Volunteer Monitoring Project
- Tillamook Bay National Estuary Project
- Estuary Water Quality Monitoring Project
- Save The Sound Inc. Adopt A Harbor
International Volunteer Monitoring Sites
- Streamwatch UK: Manchester Metropolitan University
- Waterwatch Victoria (AU)
- STREAMWATCH Melbourne (AU)
- New South Wales Streamwatch Program
- Global Rivers Environmental Education Network
- Project del Rio(U.S.A./Mexico)
- US-Russian EcoBridge Program
On Line Data Entry and Retrieval Systems
- Automated data entry and retrievl system (beta test using ASP and MS Access) (KY Water Watch)
- Simple on-line reporting form that reports by E-mail (KY Water Watch)
- Indiana Student Data Entry Form (MUST SEE!)
- Students' data from wetlands on their school site.
- PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY STREAM TEAMS: STREAM SURVEY FORM
- The Vermont Rivers Project (with searchable data base)
- THE RIVERS CURRICULUM PROJECT On-Line Data Entry Form
Other "Must See" Sites
Note: This announcement is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement by SAS.
