Volunteer
Addison County River Watch Collaborative
See our local watersheds from a new perspective!
Help us to better understand the health of Addison County’s rivers!
To join our team of water quality monitoring volunteers, please contact mwitten@gmavt.net.
The Middlebury River volunteer group monitoring in April.
Photo by Matt Witten
The Experience:
The most common way to volunteer with ACRWC is to join a team of water quality samplers. One morning each month from April to September, these teams visit established sites on Addison County rivers to collect water samples. These samples are then transferred to a laboratory for analysis.
A chance wildlife encounter is also a great reason to volunteer! This baby snapper is just one example.
Photo by Mark Hekkers
Monitoring Protocols:
Addison County River Watch Collaborative’s monitoring protocols are rigorous and strictly followed. We can only expect our data to be useful if all our volunteers proceed according to our EPA-approved methods. In order for our data to be considered valid, we file a Quality Assurance Protection Plan with EPA (through the State of Vermont DEC) every year. Our ACRWC Field Manual spells out our sampling protocols in a step-by-step manner.
Instructional videos
These videos will show you the types of sampling done by our volunteers. Join the team!
Sample Training Video
This video was produced with the vital assistance of Steve Hammes of Drive Time Productions in Albany, NY
Funding was provided from the Lake Champlain Basin Program of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.