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Adopt Your Watershed
Volunteer Monitoring
Across the country, trained volunteers monitor the condition of streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, coastal waters, wetlands, and wells. They do this because they want to help protect a stream, lake, bay or wetland near where they live, work, or play. Their volunteer efforts help provide quality data and build stewardship of local waters. For more information on volunteer monitoring, including a national directory of volunteer monitoring programs, visit our volunteer monitoring page.
World Water Monitoring Day
is an annual event that affords students and teachers, Scouts, families, and others the opportunity to get involved in local watershed activities.
Between September 18 and October 18, you can go out to your local stream, lake, bay or wetland and test a water sample for a few basic
characteristics- dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity (water clarity) and pH. All you need to be part of this worldwide educational event is a
simple monitoring kit and a desire to become acquainted with the waterbody in your neighborhood. To find out how to order a monitoring kit, register
your site, and report your data, visit http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org
.
Be sure to read up on the instructions, including safety hints, before you go out monitoring. Go to
Celebrate Monitoring Month for educational materials you can order
from EPA.
What You Can Do
For other ideas on how you can help, check out the Watershed Patch Project. This is a collection of watershed activities designed for schools, science clubs, and community organizations. Once students complete the requisite number of activities, educators can download certificates right from the web!
Or check out Fifteen Things You Can Do to Make a Difference in Your Watershed. Also, find out what Girl Scouts are doing to help protect their local watersheds through the Water Drop Patch Project.
Follow these links to find out more about what you can do for watersheds:
- Watershed News
- International Coastal Cleanup
- National River Cleanup Week
- World Water Monitoring Day
- Wetlands Protection
Information presented in the Adopt Your Watershed database does not constitute an official endorsement by EPA of any particular group's policies, activities, or positions on federal or state legislation. Disclaimer.
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