National Water Monitoring Day Summary NWQMC meeting December 2002

Year of Clean Water Celebration … …30 Years of successes Recommitment… …To work yet to be completed Educate the public on water quality issues. Encourage & strengthen partnerships between citizens, private org’s & government agencies. Celebrate accomplishments of the CWA Identify work that still needs to be done.

Resolutions Presidential Year of Clean Water Proclamation Joint Congressional Resolution designating 2002 as the Year of Clean Water Year of Clean Water Proclamations by Governors of at least 15 States. State based educational and celebratory events

NWMD Workgroup Chaired by YOCW / ASWIPCA US EPA USGS NWQMC Washington State Dept Ecology Pennsylvania DEP Texas Watch Program URI Watershed Watch Oklahoma Water Res. Board Earthforce EASI Earthday Network California Water Res. Board

Four Tiers of Monitoring spanning October 12 th to 27 th Federal agencies State agencies Volunteer monitoring progs All target their usual monitoring to that time span, Using their equipment and methodologies Members of the public –YOCW monitoring kit

Water Temperature pH Turbidity/Clarity Dissolved Oxygen Kit cost $ pH, DO tests Order at:

Registration, Data Entry All web based (use Internet Explorer) Registration required prior to monitoring –Monitor & site info –Helpful to know lat/long – Other planned activities Shoreside cleanups Surveys/Habitat Assessments Water Festivals Database 10/1/02 -12/5/02

4100 Sites Registered* 66% (~2700 sites) data/info logged as of 11/15/02 80,000 – 85,000 participants, maybe as high as 100,000 <2% entered supplementary data * USGS, EASI data not included

Success Measured in Many Ways Kansas City – week-long series of events –Involved thousands of folks –Recharged lagging partnerships Monterey Bay Sanctuary Fndn –Monitoring coast from Oregon to Mexico –2370 folks at 280 sites SC – galvanized lake community to monitor “ignored“ lake RI – 4 tiers of events –Reception-CWA/30, RIDEM/25, longtime volunteer monitors honored –Monitoring workshop –Travelling photo exhibit

USGS: Outstanding in the Field 67 USGS-related events –5600 non-USGS attendees –36 covered by news media 28 TV/cable 6 radio –27 had “dignitaries” in attendence Response from District Chiefs –47 positive –1 negative

Concerns Lack of involvement by agencies other than EPA, USGS Time of year problematic Limited parameters Concerns with the kit Database difficulties –Easiest for single site monitoring –No batch entry –Difficulty with locating sites Poor map Lat/long conversions tedious Will the data be used?

Next Steps Overall summary report (EPA &USGS) –Light on data –Celebrating the event –Key happenings Continuing the event –Timing: early Oct, Earth Day? –Monitoring week not day –Engaging more vol mon groups –Improving the kit –Better press coverage (110 clipppings)