COMMUNITY SCIENCE PROGRAM
In 2018 ACWA partnered with the Beaver Creek Watershed Association (BCWA) to create a volunteer program to monitor and collect data on the health of our local watersheds and provide outreach to our local community. Volunteers collect information the following ways:
collect aquatic insects (called “benthic macroinvertebrates”),
conduct water quality sampling including bacteria,
monitor road salt (chlorides) and nitrates with the Izaak Walton League of America (Learn more…)
manage continuous stream temperature loggers.
Our program follows quality protocols provided by Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC), the Isaac Walton League of America (IWLA), and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) to ensure our information is collected accurately.
Our data is shared to many different organizations. Select data sets can be viewed on the CMC Data Explorer Website and the IWLA Clean Water Hub
Help with our Community Science Program
If you are interested in learning about the health our waters, whether seasoned scientist or just curious how our streams our doing, there are many opportunities to monitor with ACWA\BCWA. No experience or scientific-background is necessary. Our volunteers are trained several ways:
by a team leader as we work,
at training events, and
self-guided training materials.
Partners who have been integral in supporting the ACWA\BCWA Community Science program include: