The Watershed Institute seeks volunteers for one of the teams on StreamWatch, a community water monitoring program that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
StreamWatch’s Bacterial Action Team (BACT) does spring and summer water monitoring for harmful algal blooms (HABS), nutrients, and E. coli. Volunteers may sign up for one, or several, five-week sessions. They will sample from several locations and make a visual assessment of their sites.
The water samples will be analyzed in the lab for E. coli, disease-causing bacteria of a fecal origin that contaminate water. Water tainted with E. coli poses a public health problem.
The presence of E. coli could be due to leaking septic or sewer systems, polluted stormwater runoff that is contaminated with goose, dog, or other animal waste, waterfowl in a stream, or cows wading in the waters.
Three five-week monitoring sessions are held every summer. Volunteers may choose to participate in one or more sessions. All samples are analyzed by Watershed staff and interns in-house using the IDEXX/Colilert method.
BACT sample collections are done on Sundays and are delivered to the Watershed Center between 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. that day.
Volunteers must be age 18 or older and have their own transportation to travel between 2-4 collection sites. Each site visit is about 10-20 minutes.
Interested? Please consider joining us for one or more of the following sessions. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
Session A:
Virtual training Sat 5/21, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Sampling dates – every Sunday 5/22 – 6/19; samples are delivered to the Watershed between 10 a.m.– 3 p.m.
Session B:
Virtual training Sat 6/25, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Sampling dates – every Sunday 6/26 – 7/24; samples are delivered to the Watershed between 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Session C:
Virtual training Sat 7/30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sampling dates – every Sunday 7/31 – 8/28; samples are delivered to the Watershed between 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
