Save the Date

Annual VCWQ Summit will be Saturday August 15th in Charlottesville, VA

This year’s summit theme will focus on the successes of citizen scientists throughout the Commonwealth.  Citizen scientists in Virginia have been contributing much to our understanding of water quality conditions.  The VCWQ Summer Summit allows these volunteers come together to share their collective knowledge, discuss issues happening in their communities, collaborate on common solutions, and share their successes.       

We are currently developing an agenda that will be finalized soon.  Some of the topics include: 

§         Influencing environmental policy in the Commonwealth

§         Watershed report cards

§         Success stories - how volunteer monitoring has led to local water quality improvements. 

 Online registration can be found at _{http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JootpRWlOEt1YMOqQ8aw8A_3d_3d}

Registration for the VCWQ summer summit is $25.  This will cover participant’s lunch and any incidentals needed to host the VCWQ summit.  Options for lunch is part of the registration.  Payment can be provided at the door the day of the event.   

Strength and Stability Through Coordination...

Virginia citizens have been involved in water quality monitoring for many years.  There are organizations, such as the Citizens for Water Quality that support these monitoring activities.  However, there has never been an organization of the citizen monitoring groups.  Collaboration between citizen monitoring groups can provide a more effective approach to coordinating many of the basic functions of citizen monitoring; such as recruitment, protocols, and training.  A citizen monitoring organization can also provide the individual monitoring groups with a louder voice regarding regional and state water quality issues.

Mission:

• Coordinate existing volunteer water quality monitoring efforts
• Identify appropriate volunteer water quality monitoring methodologies
• Identify appropriate uses of volunteer water quality monitoring data
• Provide a funding mechanism for volunteer water quality monitoring
• Promote watershed water quality and stream health needs and issues