SWAMP - Clean Water Team (CWT) – Citizen Monitoring

Citizen monitoring is monitoring of the environment by community members, usually as volunteers, interested in watershed protection. Citizen monitoring activities include collecting water quality data, evaluating fish habitat, counting birds, or making visual observations of stream health. Community and resource managers use monitoring information to better protect California's waters.

Community based science are participant and community created science projects. The individuals and community members involved, collect samples, take measurements, conduct tests, and/or do other program tasks.

Community-based participatory research is a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the strengths that each brings. Community-based participatory research begins with a research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change.

By monitoring your local creek, river, or stretch of beach, you learn about its health, and the plants and animals it supports. You can help pinpoint pollution sources or identify widespread problems. You can provide the background information needed to develop restoration projects or pollution prevention measures. Your data could even evaluate the success or failure of those projects. Your actions can be instrumental to protecting or improving the waters in your community.

Water is a precious resource. California has over 200,000 miles of streams, home to wildlife, and a place for us to play and fish. Knowing the health of these streams is critical to protecting them. Choosing to join other members of your community to monitor your local stream helps ensure its protection.

Findings on Citizen Monitoring Contributions Towards the Monitoring of California Waters and Beneficial Uses – California’s citizen monitors are contributing thousands of hours and millions of dollars’ worth of science towards the stewardship of California’s watersheds.

Contributions of citizen monitoring groups to the state’s water quality monitoring programs.

2017 Citizen Monitoring Webinar Series Learn about the diversity of California’s citizen science and community science successes.

The State Water Resources Control Board and many of the Regional Water Quality Control Boards, located throughout California, are actively involved in citizen monitoring. We have developed specific monitoring techniques and identified important ways to ensure your techniques are valid. We also will be able to teach you these monitoring techniques. We will certainly try to hook you up with other interested volunteers and local technical experts.

Volunteers come from all walks of life. No specific skills are required, all you need is a desire to protect your watershed and a willingness to learn and perform simple monitoring techniques. Monitoring is a great activity for school children, youth groups, landowners, and community organizations. You or your business can support citizen monitoring by contributing:

• Your time and enthusiasm;
• Your knowledge of birds, bugs, or fish;
• Funding or;
• In-kind technical services, such as laboratory analyses, computer skills, taxonomic identification.

You can make a difference. The Water Boards are interested in hearing from you. Citizen's Guide to Working with the California Water Boards contains many references to websites as well as weblinks to many sites. The Boards recognize that not all Californians have access to the internet. Thus, any member of the public may contact the Water Boards by telephone or US Mail to communicate concerns, ask questions, request information, or inquire about public participation opportunities.

• Navigate to our Clean Water Team "California Monitoring Groups map."
  Locate the program in your neighborhood and volunteer!
• Start your own water quality monitoring program using Clean Water Team training and guidance documents found throughout this Website.

  Contact the Clean Water Team coordinator to learn more.