Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring in Virginia

What is Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring?

ä       Simpliest form – average citizens making observations about the condition of streams, lakes, and rivers

ä       Forms of volunteer water quality monitoring range from visual observations of stream conditions to highly technical laboratories.

Why do people want to monitor their streams and rivers?

ä       Collect water quality data on water bodies where no data currently exists

ä       Be an active participant and advocate for their special stream, lake or river

ä       Give back to their community and the environment

Where do they monitor?

ä       Monitors all across Virginia, although more active in certain geographic areas than others

ä       Monitor streams, lakes, and rivers

What do they monitor?

ä       Physical Parameters – temperature, dissolved oxygen, pebble counts/riffle stability, turbidity, instream and near stream habitat

ä       Chemical Parameters – nitrogen, phosphorus, some toxics

ä       Biological Parameters – benthic macroinvertebrates, e. coli bacteria, chlorophyll A, algae, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)

Who is monitoring?

ä       Friends of Groups and their members

ä       Former and current teachers

ä       Average citizen with no science background

ä       Average citizen with a lot of science background

ä       Soil and Water Conservation District employees and their volunteers

What is the time commitment of volunteer water quality monitors

ä       Programs vary, but generally there is 4 – 12 hours of training required on a annual or semi-annual basis

ä       Programs that conduct chemical analysis usually go out every two weeks and spend 2-3 hours collecting and analyzing their sample

ä       Programs that conduct macroinvertebrate biological parameters sample four times a year and spend 3 – 5 house collecting and analyzing their sample

ä       Other programs have other requirements (such as lake program and beach monitoring which generally happens in summer months)

How is volunteer water quality data used?

ä       Education

ä       Baseline Environmental Data

ä       Highlight areas of concern where agencies should conduct follow up monitoring

ä       Red Alert for Acute water quality problems

ä       Evaluate the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs)

ä       Use in development for local watershed management plans

ä       For some programs – document impaired waters

Who are resources and who are interested in volunteer water quality monitors?

ä       “Friends of” groups

ä       Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Save Our Streams, Audubon Naturalists

ä       Soil and Water Conservation Districts

ä       Virginia Citizens of Water Quality

ä       Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

ä       Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

ä       Virginia Department of Forestry

ä       Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

ä       Virginia Water Monitoring Council

ä       Various Colleges and Universities throughout the Commonwealth

ä       Various Business and Industry

Do we need volunteer water quality monitors?

ä       Collect water quality data on water bodies where no data currently exists

ä       Be an active participant and advocate for their special stream, lake or river

ä       Give back to their community and the environment

Current status of volunteer monitoring organizations

ä       Money, money, money

ä       Need to continue to work collaboratively – we are all sharing the same “turf” – no one entity has a claim to it!