Starting Out in Volunteer
Water Monitoring
What is volunteer
water monitoring?
Across the country, 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 efforts are of particular
value in providing quality data and
building stewardship of local waters.
Volunteers make visual observa-
tions of habitat, land uses, and the
impacts of storms; measure the physical
and chemical characteristics of waters;
and assess the abundance and diversity
of living creatures—aquatic insects,
plants, fish, birds, and other wildlife.
Volunteers also clean up garbage -
strewn waters, count and catalog beach
debris, and become involved in restor-
ing degraded habitats. The number,
variety, and complexity of these
projects are continually on the rise.
Volunteer monitoring programs
are organized and supported in many
different ways. Projects may be
entirely independent or may be
associated with state,
interstate, local, or
federal agencies;
with environmen-
tal organizations;
or with schools
and universities.
Financial
support may
come from
government
grants, partner-
ships with business, endowments, indepen-
dent fundraising efforts, corporate dona-
tions, membership dues, or a combination
of these sources.
Volunteers Provide Quality Data
Many volunteer groups collect data
that supplements the information collected
by state and local resource management or
planning agencies. These agencies might
use the data to:
* screen water for potential prob-
lems, for further study or for
restoration efforts
* establish baseline conditions or
trends for waters that would
otherwise go unmonitored
* evaluate the success of best
management practices (BMPs)
designed to mitigate problems
In general, the volunteer monitoring
program should work cooperatively with
state and local agencies in developing and
coordinating its technical components. To
ensure that its data are used, the monitor-
ing program should also develop a strong
quality assurance project plan (QAPP) that
governs how volunteers are trained, how
samples are collected and analyzed, and
Volunteers
Most Commonly Monitor:
Water temperature Flow/water level
Dissolved Oxygen Turbidity
pH Habitat
Macroinvertebrates Secchi transparency
Phosphorus Bacteria
Nitrogen Land use
Source: Directory of Volunteer Environmental
Monitoring Programs, 5th Edition
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r
Participating in a
volunteer prog ram that
provides data to be used
by government agencies
will usually require that
you take part in formal
training sessions and
commit to a regular
schedule of sampling.
how information is stored
and disseminated.
Volunteers Build
Stewardship of
Local Waters
'• By educating
volunteers and the
community about the
value of local waters, the
kinds of pollution threaten-
ing them, and how individual
and collective actions can help solve
specific problems, volunteer monitoring
programs can:
* make the connection between
watershed health and our indi-
vidual and collective behaviors
* build bridges among various
agencies, businesses, and
organizations
* create a constituency for local
waters that promotes personal and
community stewardship and
cooperation
Volunteer groups whose primary
purpose is education and constituency-
building generally adopt simple, easy-to-use
assessment methods and may not need to
develop a stringent quality assurance
project plan.
If you are interested in
learning about your local
waterway and educating
others, your time commit-
ment may be less and any
training will probably be
less formal.
How do you get
started as a volunteer
monitor?
Determine your personal goals.
Ask yourself why you
want to become a
volunteer monitor. Do
you want to provide
high-quality data to be
shared with state and
local government
agencies, or are you
more interested in
helping local students
learn about the envi-
ronment? Do you want to monitor a
specific stream in your neighborhood or are
you willing to be assigned a site by your
county resource management agency?
Participating in a volunteer program
that provides data to be used by govern-
ment agencies will usually require that you
take part in formal training sessions and
commit to a regular schedule of sampling
(usually weekly, monthly, or seasonally,
depending on the project). If you are more
interested in learning about your local
waterway and educating others, your time
commitment may be less and any training
will probably be less formal.
Learn about any existing
volunteer monitoring programs in
your area and around the country.
The National Directory of Volunteer
Environmental Monitoring Programs, pub-
lished by the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (USEPA), can help you locate
existing groups nearby and around the
country and help you learn about the kinds
of monitoring taking place. In addition,
USEPA's Adopt Your Watershed site on the
World Wide Web can help you link up with
volunteer groups in your watershed (see
back page).
Another good place to start is with
your local or state environmental protec-
tion, natural resource, parks, or fish and
game agency. Even if it does not sponsor a
volunteer program, the agency may be
aware of other programs or groups you can
join. Other potential sponsors or sources of
information include:
* local community-based groups such
as civic or watershed associations,
garden clubs, universities, and activist
organizations
* national environmental organiza-
tions with chapters in your area
* regional offices of federal agencies
such as USEPA, the US Department
of Agriculture's Extension Service,
the U.S. Park Service, and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
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Once you locate volunteer monitor-
ing groups, you will probably find that they
offer a variety of opportunities. You might
become involved in collecting samples,
analyzing the results in a laboratory,
developing ways to present data, writing
reports, speaking to local groups about
water resource issues and the volunteer
project, producing a newsletter, fund-
raising, or recruiting and training new
volunteers. You might also become involved
in organizing stream cleanups, planting
trees, and other habitat restoration activi-
ties. Chances are you will find opportuni-
ties that suit your interests and skills.
If you can't locate a local group,
consider starting one yourself.
If you decide to start your own pro-
gram, you'll need to do some basic research
to determine how to proceed. To help your
research, develop a list of questions that you
can discuss with other volunteer program
coordinators. For example:
* what relationships does the program
have with state and local agencies,
local businesses, schools and colleges,
other groups?
* what kind of monitoring does the
program conduct?
4 what are the program's monitoring
costs? How is the program funded?
* how are volunteers recruited,
trained, and retained?
4 how is the quality of the data en-
sured? Does the program have an
approved quality assurance plan?
* what reference materials, training
aids, and methods manuals do they
recommend?
Starting a volunteer monitoring
program is not a simple task. You will need
money for equipment and possibly for staff;
appropriate meeting, training, and lab
facilities; a network of knowledgeable
people (such as educators, extension agents,
local government representatives, etc.) who
are interested in your project and willing to
advise and help out; connection to (or
sponsorship by) potential data users who
can help you plan your project so
that it meets their needs as well
as your own; and organiza-
tional skills to manage and
maintain the project. Most of
all, you will need time to
make contacts in the com-
munity, design your monitor-
ing plan, develop training
sessions, recruit volunteers,
revise the program as it
matures, raise funds, analyze
the data, and report back to the
volunteers and the community.
Here are some of the lessons learned
by other volunteer programs:
Start small. A pilot project that serves
to test out methods, training sessions, and
organizational skills can keep you from
being overwhelmed and allows you to
evaluate and refine your project before
moving on to more ambitious efforts.
Keep your goals—and those of your
volunteers—realistic. Chances are slim that
your data will ever be used in court to stop
a polluter. Data collected for such regula-
tory purposes requires a very high degree of
quality assurance. Most volunteer data is
used to educate the community and to
screen for potential problems.
Planning pays off. Beware of collect-
ing a year's worth of data and then finding
that you have no idea how to analyze it,
that the methods you used are not consid-
ered valid, or that you
sampled sites in the wrong
locations.
Make connections. The
more people you talk to in
your community and within
local and state agencies, the
more friends and supporters
your program will have.
Include potential data users
in all phases of your project's
development.
Develop volunteer
leadership. Volunteer leaders
within a project provide the
vision for setting goals and
the commitment to achieve
them. They also enable a
As you start out, connect
with potential users of your
data to ensure that your
project meets their needs
as well as yours.
Some USEPA resources on
theWorld Wide Web...
Office of Water Homepage:
www.epa.gov/ow
Wetlands, Oceans, and Water-
sheds Homepage:
www.epa.gov/owow
Monitoring Water Quality
Homepage:
www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring
Volunteer Monitoring Homepage:
www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/
vol.html
Adopt Your Watershed:
www.epa.gov/surf/adopt/
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Various
USEPA
documents,
such as this quality
assurance guide, can help
programs that are
starting out in volunteer
monitoring.
project to develop and
grow without stagnating.
Build into your monitor-
ing project plenty of
opportunities for volun-
teers to develop as
leaders.
Pamper your
volunteers. Volunteers
give up their free
time to come to
meetings, attend
f''"" training sessions,
and trudge out to
monitoring sites.
Provide social
opportunities and reward
volunteers for a job well done.
Use your data. Report findings to
volunteers and to the community. Help
volunteers present monitoring results at
fairs and town meetings. Send your findings
to your contacts in state and local govern-
ment. Create a newsletter or data report
and let the world see what you've accom-
plished.
Volunteer Monitoring
Resources
USEPA supports volunteer monitor-
ing by sponsoring national conferences,
publishing methods manuals, producing a
nationwide directory of volunteer pro-
grams, and funding a national newsletter,
The Volunteer Monitor (see resource box
for information on subscribing to this
publication). Volunteer coordinators in
the 10 EPA Regional offices provide some
technical assistance for local programs
and help coordinate regionwide confer-
ences. The Regions are also responsible
for grants to the states that can be used,
in part, to support volunteer monitoring
programs that help assess nonpoint
sources of pollution or that serve to
educate the public about nonpoint source
issues.
For more information on USEPA's
volunteer monitoring program, or to obtain
any of the documents listed in the resource
box, contact Volunteer Monitoring Coordi-
nator, USEPA (4503T), 1200 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
Volunteer monitoring resources available from USEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4503T)
Washington, DC 20460
EPA841-F-02-004
August 2002
National Directory of Citizen Volun-
teer Environmental Monitoring Pro-
grams, Fifth Edition. EPA 841 B 98
009.
Proceedings of the Sixth National
Citizen's Volunteer Water Monitoring
Conference. EPA 841 -R-01 -001, June
2001.
Volunteer Estuary Monitoring: A
Methods Manual. Available only on the
Web at www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/
monitor.
Volunteer Lake Monitoring: A Meth-
ods Manual. EPA 440/4-91-002,
December 1 991. Available only on the
Web at www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/
lakevm.html.
Volunteer Monitor's Guide to Quality
Assurance Project Plans. EPA 841-B-
96-003, September 1996.
Volunteer Stream Monitoring: A Meth-
ods Manual. EPA 841 -B-97-003, Novem-
ber 1997.
Volunteer Wetland Monitoring: An
Introduction and Resource Guide.
EPA 843-B-00-001, December 2001.
The Volunteer Monitor, newsletter,
partially funded under cooperative
agreement by the USEPA, is published
twice yearly. This newsletter facilitates
the exchange of ideas, monitoring
methods, and practical advice among
volunteer monitoring groups across
the country. Subscriptions are free.
Available on the Web at www.epa.gov/
owow/monitoring/volunteer/
vm_index.html or contact the
editor at ellieely@earthlink.net.
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