MCWC River Watch Volunteers

Calling All River Enthusiasts!

Middle Colorado Watershed Council (MCWC) is recruiting River Watch Volunteers to assist with sampling water quality in your local stream!

This Citizen Science program is designed to educate and involve students and community members in their water and its quality. It is a hands-on program that was started at MCWC in 2017 and utilizes a state-funded program called River Watch, which has been supporting state-wide volunteer water quality monitoring since the early 90s.

All volunteers receive training in River Watch water quality sampling so that they understand how to collect data that is useful and meaningful.  Volunteers also gain a general knowledge of stream ecology from a water professional.  During a typical sampling event, voluteers are paired with a buddy and visit their designated site to collect water samples and record information. They then return to their home, school, or MCWC office to perform basic laboratory tests using equipment provided by River Watch and MCWC.

The data collected over time by MCWC River Watch Volunteers, helps MCWC maintain a broad baseline dataset of river health. Results are also compiled in the state-wide River Watch database and regularly used by such entities as Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The goal of the Citizen Science program is to engage local citizens in their water while also providing useful, accurate data to the State and other management entities. For this reason, it is expected that all program participants will be responsible, reliable, and willing to commit to this program for a minimum of 1 year.