The University of Rhode Island’s Watershed Watch program is seeking volunteer water quality monitors to help collect data on lakes, ponds, streams, and coastal waters across southern New England this spring.
A URI Cooperative Extension program, Watershed Watch has tracked water quality data for four decades, with volunteers helping researchers understand how snowy winters, stormwater runoff, and droughts contribute to bacteria and surface algal blooms. The data also helps communities and regional organizations identify problems and protect local water resources.
Sites in particular need of volunteers this year include Alton Pond, an impoundment on the Wood River bordering Hopkinton and Richmond; Blackamore and Spectacle ponds and Meshanticut Lake in Cranston; several pond and stream sites in Warwick; Melville Pond in Portsmouth; and First Beach in Newport.
“Becoming a volunteer water quality monitor is a great excuse to get outdoors and do something that helps you understand local waters while also helping to protect them,” said URI Watershed Watch Director Elizabeth Herron. “Our volunteers are integral to the monitoring program and often develop connections to the many environmental and community groups that we partner with.”
No previous experience or scientific background is required. Some sites require volunteers to have access to a boat, kayak, or canoe, while others can be monitored from shore. Watershed Watch provides all land-based equipment, manuals, and training at no cost.
Classroom training sessions are scheduled for Thursday, April 2, from 6 to 9 p.m., and Saturday, April 4, from 9 a.m. to noon. Field training will be held April 11 and April 25, with morning and afternoon time slots available each day. Volunteers must complete one field training session before the May through October monitoring season begins. Attending a training session does not commit participants to becoming a volunteer.
Since 1988, Watershed Watch has trained thousands of volunteer monitors and built partnerships with more than 100 organizations, including 14 municipalities, 23 environmental and sporting organizations, and one Native American tribe.
For more information or to register, contact Herron at 401-874-4552 or eherron@uri.edu.