Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring

Research

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bridge over river Research within New England's Extension volunteer water quality monitoring programs and at Land Grant Universities is enhancing volunteer methods, improving volunteer data credibility, and employing volunteer data to advance applied research important to lake and watershed management decisions. This research strengthens the foundation of volunteer monitoring, making it easier to educate the public on local water quality issues and contribute data for informed community decision making.


Research projects can be broken into studies looking at:
Volunteer monitoring methodology
Extension volunteer monitoring program assessment
Volunteer monitoring data advancing applied research

Volunteer monitoring methodology

The URI Watershed Watch external link program conducted a study comparing volunteer collected data with professional collected data. They found no significant differences between the two adding support to volunteer data credibility. For more information, contact Linda Green.

The Maine Shore Stewards external link at UMaine is coordinates the Maine Coastal Swim Beach Program. external link The program will be conducting a side by side study of two methods – Enterolert method by Idexx in volunteer labs vs. membrane filtration with 24 hour incubation in certified labs - to analyze Enterococci bacteria. For more information, contact Esperanza Stancioff.

Macroinvertebrate communities in streams are used by volunteer monitoring programs to assess and monitor ecosystem integrity. Researchers at the UVM are conducting a project Improving tolerance-based biotic indicesexternal link NRI logo. This research program's data helps in the mechanistic understanding of macroinvertebrate communities in agriculturally influenced streams and will support more informed selection and use of indicators in future water quality monitoring prorgams. Similarly, a project at UNH is developing keys for identification of aquatic insects that will be useful in developing state and regional level water quality indices external link.

A study at the UMass is developing a new inexpensive and easy method, transgenic reporter fish external link, for monitoring water quality of local streams, ponds, and reservoirs.


volunteer sampling macroinvertebrates Extension volunteer monitoring program assessment

The National Facilitation of CSREES Volunteer Monitoring Efforts Project external link, a cooperative effort between the Universities of Rhode Island and Wisconsin, built a comprehensive support system for the 38 identified Extension volunteer water quality monitoring efforts across the country. This project researched (via an inquiry external link to the Extension volunteer monitoring programs) programs’ beginnings, training techniques, quality assurance measures, volunteer support tools, outreach tools, and funding. This information was synthesized into a Guide for Growing Programs external link to expand and strengthen the capacity of existing programs and support the development of new programs.


Volunteer monitoring data advancing applied research

The NH Lakes Lay Monitoring Program external link (NH LLMP) of the UNH Cooperative Extension external link incorporates a new participatory research program to address monitors’ concerns (see Participatory Research: Linking Citizens to Scientists external link as published in the Volunteer Monitor Newsletter external link, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 2003 for more information). In one study, volunteers studied boat impacts on water quality. They concluded that impacts of watercraft are highly dependent on lake characteristics. For more information, contact Jeff Schloss.

In another study at UNH, Watershed Natural Resources Inventories (WNRIs) were produced by integrating Geographic Information System mapping and analyses with information from NH LLMP external link volunteer monitoring and natural resources inventories by stake holder groups. These WNRIs were used for watershed planning and pollution prevention. For more information, contact Jeff Schloss.

woman sampling water The MA Water Watch Partnership external link at UMass Extension external link cooperated with the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) and MA Dept. of Environmental Management on a satellite ground truthing project external link. Volunteers sampled lakes on days when the LandSat satellite was overhead. USGS bought the LandSat images and correlated the image signatures with the lake data for the purpose of assessing lake health from LandSat images in the future. Refer to the USGS report external link for more information.

The MA Water Resources Center external link has conducted the internationally recognized Acid Rain Monitoring Project external link which combines the efforts of hundreds of citizen volunteers and laboratories with University coordination to produce high quality data. This data is used to evaluate the impact of acid deposition on the surface waters of MA and the impact of the 1990 Clean Air Amendments on surface waters.

A project at UNH studying microcystins, which are linked to serious health problems in NH lakes, external link incorporates data from NH LLMP external link. These cyanobacteria toxins called microcystins are linked to serious health problems. This project is developing a response plan for water quality managers responsible for monitoring water safety in water bodies experiencing toxic cyanobacteria.


 

NRI logo Indicates work supported by the
USDA-CSREES National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program external link.