River Watch
is a statewide volunteer water
quality-monitoring program operated by the Colorado Watershed Network in
partnership with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The mission is to work with
voluntary stewards to monitor water quality and other indicators of watershed
health, and utilize this high quality data to educate citizens and inform
decision makers about the condition of Colorado’s waters.
River Watch
is comprised of volunteers from school groups to
watershed groups, jurisdictions, and consultants, with new groups being added
each year. Each volunteer group receives the training, support, and supplies
needed to monitor their rivers in a consistent and accurate manner.
Volunteers collect
metal, nutrient and macroinvertebrate samples throughout the year for analysis
at the
River Watch Laboratory. Volunteers also
implement a program of pH, alkalinity, hardness, dissolved oxygen, temperature,
stream discharge, and physical habitat analysis. The volunteers then manage
their data electronically on the
River Watch
database server. CWN analyzes the metals
samples on an Inductively Couple Plasma spectrophotometer and an Atomic
Absorption spectrophotometer, and a Lachat auto-analyzer for the nutrient
analysis.
Quality assurance is
essential in the program operation and in the use of the data. Each volunteer
group performs their sampling and analysis according to a set of guidance
documents. Quality assurance checks are performed to ensure that the volunteers
and the
River Watch laboratory perform within the
established methods.
River Watch
data is stored on an internet server and
can be accessed by anyone. All the data is reviewed and validated by the
Division of Wildlife before it is made public. The high quality
River Watch
data is currently utilized by the Water Quality Control Commission and many
others in the management of Colorado’s waters.
Click here to see a map of River Watch stations
throughout Colorado.
CWN also partners with
the Colorado Division of Wildlife and watershed entities to develop and
implement monitoring programs to manage critical aquatic and terrestrial habitat
across the state. The monitoring efforts often involve integrating
River Watch
into them.
For
more information, please contact the
River Watch
Coordinator at 303-291-7412 or visit our website at
http://www.wildlife.state.co.us/riverwatch/.
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