[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 ,EPA  VOLUNTEER WATER
           MONITORING:

           A Guide
           For State
           Managers



     COASTAL ZONE 
   iNFORMATION CENTER














TDL      _ 
223
V65  A   
1 990                                 Printed on Recycled Paper

















CHAPTERI1    VOLUNTEERS IN WATER MONITORING ..................................................11
               1.1I Volunteers Monitor a Variety of Parameters .....................12
               1.2 Volunteers Monitor All Types of Waters ........................13
               1.3 Volunteers Can Collect Useful Data ...........................15

CHAPTER 2         PLANNING A VOLUNTEER MONITORING PROGRAM .......................................21
               2.1 Establish General Goals....................................22
               2.2 IdentifyT Data Uses and Users................................22
               2.3 Establish Quality Assurance and Control.......................23
               2.4 Assign Staff Responsibilities ................................24

CHAPTER 3         IMPLEMENTING A VOLUNTEER MONITORING PROGRAM...................................27
               3.1 Establish a Pilot Program...................................28
               3.2 Expand the Program ......................................34
               3.3 Make the Most of the Media .................................35
               3.4 Maintain Volunteer Interest and Motivation .....................36

CHAPTER 4         PROVIDING CREDIBLE INFORMATION ...................................................37
               4. 1 Prepare a Quality Assurance Project Plan.......................38
               4.2 Prepare a Data Documentation File ...........................42
               4.3 Analyze and Present Data...................................43

CHAPTEOSSANR   U         N        IG ........................................D.....F.............................4
               5.1 Program Expenses ........................................51
               5.2 Comparison of Two State Programs ...........................53
               5.3 Funding Options .........................................53
               5.4 Techniques for Reducing Program Costs........................54



APPENDIX          DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS .......................................59
               Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program ........................60
               Kentucky Water Watch Volunteer Stream Sampling Project ............65
               New York Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program................69
               Ohio Scenic River Volunteer Monitoring Program....................73
               Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program .......................76




               Cover Photo: Virginia Lee and Richard Wood take water samples as part of
               Rhode Island Sea Grant's successful Pond Watchers project.
               Photo by Richard Thrgeon.

               All photographs are courtesy of individual or organization listed.
               Design by TFW Design, Inc.








































                                              low.






I   i                           V~~~~~~~~4












                                     Ir~ ~ ~ ~~~ 






      T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~












                         Citizen volunteers are becomingincreas-    ments, and characterize waters by investi-
                      ingly involved in monitoring the quality of our  gating the usefulness of incorporating volun-
                      Nation's waters. Volunteer monitoring pro-    teers into State ambient monitoring activi-
                     grams-both State-sponsored and private-    ties.
                      are being formed at a rapid rate throughout       As a result, EPA began a survey of exist-
                      the country. Many States that were once       ing volunteer monitoring programs, assess-
                                                                      ing their strengths and drawbacks. It soon
                                                                      became clear that the experience of several
                                                                      well-managed, State-sponsored programs
                                                              ,- !i  -could be of value to State water program
                                                                      managers who might be considering whether
                                                                      or not to develop their own volunteer efforts
                                                                       (for detailed information on five such pro-
                                                                      grams, see Appendix). The recommendations
                                                              i~;~  X _of the two national volunteer monitoring con-
                                                                      ferences confirmed this need.
                                                                          This guide for State managers was devel-
                                                                      oped to meet this need. It provides an over-
                                                                      view of the use of citizen volunteers in envi-
                                                                      ronmental monitoring. Its basic premise is
                                                                      that a well organized, properly maintained
                                                                      volunteer monitoring program can yield cred-
                                                                      ible water quality data that will be useful to
                                                                      the State. To help State program managers
                                                                       launch and manage such a program, this
                                                                fak esdocument discusses how to plan and organ-
                                                                       ize projects, how to involve the media, and
                                                                      how to prepare quality assurance plans that
Photo courtesy of the New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program   will ensure that data of known quality are
                                                                      will ensure that data of known quality are
Clifton Chandler (sitting)  skeptical about using volunteer information  produced. In addition, data management
and William Hollenbeck,  are becoming increasingly aware of the value  considerations and approaches to data analy-
two volunteer monitors,  of volunteer programs, both in collecting    sis are discussed, as well as costs and fund-
record results while
Jeffrey Schloss,
Jeffrey Schloss,    usable water quality information and in        ing issues. Examples drawn from successful
coordinator of the New  developing an educated and involved con-   existing programs are provided throughout
Hampshire Lakes Lay  stituency committed to protecting water re-    this document.
Monitoring Program,  sources. Two national EPA-sponsored volun-        The material in this document can be
takes oxygen readings  teer monitoring conferences, held in 1988   summarized in seven "basic ingredients for
from different depths of
Lake Winnipesaukee.  and 1989, have further spurred these devel-   success."
                     opments; their success is testimony to the    I. Develop and articulate a clearpurpose
                     growing interest in this field.
                          EPA's involvement in volunteer monitor-i                     
                                                                       Data should be collected to meet a specific
                     ing was sparked by two major developments     need or in response to a stated hypothesis.
                                                                       need or in response to a stated hypothesis.
                      One was the passage of the Water Quality Act  Clear Data Quality Objectives (DQ
                                                                       Clear      Data Q uality Objectives (DQO's) must
                      of 1987, which provided new impetus and       be identified as the first step in planning.
                     funding for clean lakes and nonpoint source       The planning process should be carried
                     assessment and management programs, and       out by a committee of data users, which
                                  which recognized the National Estuary Pro-  involves potential as well as identified users,
                     gram (NEP). The NEP, in particular, encour-   and includes members of the scientific
                     aged public education and public participa-
                     tion in the identification and management of
                                                          oniatong   officials who will play a part in policy making
                     pollution problems.  Volunteer monitoring     based on the results, and citizen leaders who
                     was recognized by EPA as an excellent way to
                                                                       are potential volunteer monitors or represent
                     help implement these programs.          ,     groups from which volunteers will be
                          Second was an EPA study of the Agency's   recruited.
                     surface water monitoring activities (USEPA
                      1987). One of the study's recommendations    IH. Produce "data of known quality" that
                     was to enhance State and EPA capabilities to  meet the stated Data Quality Objectives.
                     identify problems, conduct trend assess-      The perception that good quality data cannot













be collected by amateurs is the most common   to coincide with the period you can commit to
reason given by professional monitoring       supporting the volunteers. When starting a
managers declining to take advantage of this    program, be frank about the chances for con-
resource. Prepare a Quality Assurance Pro-    tinued support and inform the group if re-
ject Plan (QAPjP) for the project and make    sources disappear. Work with the strengths
sure you adhere to its elements,              and interests of your volunteers and search
                                               for ways to make the most of your available
III. Be aware that volunteer monitoring       resources. Talk with coordinators of similar
is cost-effective but is not free.
            A well-coordinated and quality-controlled  programs in other States to learn of new ways
A well-coordinated and quality-controlled     t  adeosals
                                               to handle obstacles.
project requires dedicated professional staff
support. One person should be identified
                                                   Planning, implementing, and maintain-
whose priority responsibility is the oversight    ing        a volunteer monitoring program requires
            and  anagmentof te vounter prgram ing a volunteer monitoring program requires
and management of the volunteer program.      organization, time, resources, and dedica-
         Office administration, data management, and  tion. However, the payoffs can be very great.
analytical support must be allocated up-      By designing this document to discuss both
front and carried through to demonstrable     the responsibilities and the payoffs of a well
use of the data.
            ~use of the data.  ~run volunteer monitoring program, EPA is
IV. Thoroughly train and re-train volun-      encouraging State water quality managers to
teers.                                        consider how such a program might meet
Make sure that they have the opportunity to    their needs. Once managers make a decision
gain an understanding of the ecology of their    to proceed, this document can provide them
area. Volunteers should have a realistic    with a framework for setting up their own
understanding of the program's objectives     programs.
and limits. Keep them informed and answer        This document cannot say all there is to
their questions promptly.                     be said; there are too many variables at work,
                                               too many ways a State might design its
V. Give the volunteers praise and feed-    volunteer monitoring program, depending on
back-it's the psychological equivalent        its resources and needs. We hope, however,
of a salary!                                  that its message is clear: that States should
Keep a direct line of communication open at   draw on the enthusiasm, expertise, and
all times using the telephone, personal       commitment of their citizens to monitor and
memos, and/or some form of newsletter. Ask    protect the water resources that are so pre-
their advice on general administrative is-    cious to us all.
sues, bring them into the proofreading proc-
ess, and help them develop a sense of shared
ownership of the program. Recognize their
accomplishments through awards, letters of
appreciation, publicity, and certificates. If at
all possible, encourage experienced volun-
teers to shoulder increased responsibilities
such as becoming team leaders or coordina-
tors, carrying out more advanced tests, or
helping with data analyses.
VI. Use the data your volunteers collect.
Nothing discourages participating volunteers
more than seeing that their data are not being
used. Simple analyses and attractive dis-
plays of high quality volunteer data should be
presented to volunteers as well as to State
staff. This will foster continued interest in the
program and serve to educate and inform the
public about local water quality issues.

VII. Finally, beflexible, open, and realis-
tic with your volunteers and yourself.
Start with a small program you can easily
handle. Synchronize the monitoring period

















r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~r













                         This document provides State, regional,     1.1 VOLUNTEERS MONITOR A VARIETY
                     and Federal program managers with a prac-      OF PARAMETERS
                     tical reference for developing, implementing,      The experience of citizen monitoring
                     and maintaining a surface water volunteer      programs throughout the country proves that
                     monitoring program. A number of states have    volunteers can be trained to carry out a wide
                     successfully expanded ongoing monitoring       variety of environmental monitoring tasks,
                     and assessment activities with the assis-      provided they are given the appropriate equip-
                     tance of competent, trained volunteers (for    ment and instruction. Figure 1.1 provides
                     examples, see the Appendix). These programs    examples of the range of monitoring activities
                                                                     in which volunteers have proven to be suc-
                                                                     cessful partners. Volunteer monitoring ac-
                                                                     tivities can be placed into three general cate-
                                                                     gories: visual observation, physical and
                                                                     chemical measurements, and assessments
                                                                     of living resources.

                                                         ' 'a .       06 Visual Observation
                                                                         Volunteers often live near the sites they
                                                                     monitor, and so may have ready access to
                                                                     waters inaccessible to State personnel. Their
                                                                     familiarity with nearby waters also makes
                                                                     volunteers uniquely qualified to make visual
                                                                     observations of changes in water color follow-
                                                                     ing storm events; effects of erosion and sedi-
                                                                     ment control measures; general impacts of
|Phoo by Lorry LeBeouf                                               earth disturbances during land development
Photo by LarTy LeBeouf
                                                                     for agricultural or construction purposes;
Save Our Streams     have demonstrated that volunteers can suc-      weather; land uses; impacts of recreational
Coordinator Karen    cessfully deliver high quality data that can be  uses; and animal behavior and abundance.
Firehock gives Virginians  used for surface water assessment and prob-
a hands-on lesson in
biological monitoring  lem identification. Drawing on the collective  Physical and Chemical Measurements
using a "kick-seine."  experience of these programs, this document       Volunteers also often measure a wide
                     provides information on how to plan, fund,     variety of chemical and physical parameters.
                     and maintain a volunteer monitoring effort     Samples are collected using standardized,
                     that can provide credible, useful water qual-  State-approved methods and equipment, and
                     ity data.                                      may be analyzed in the field using specially
                         This guide begins by providing an over-     designed kits or sent to a laboratory for
                     view of existing volunteer monitoring efforts   analysis. Among the parameters currently
                     and outlines how to plan a program that will   being measured by volunteer groups are:
                     produce high quality data. It then discusses   water and air temperature; water transpar-
                     steps in implementing a program, from          ency; turbidity; suspended solids; salinity;
                     launching a pilot to maintaining volunteer     river height and flow; rain and snow amounts;
                     interest. Considerable focus is directed to    and chemical constituents such as pH, alka-
                     providing credible, quality-controlled infor-  linity, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates,
                     mation and analyzing and presenting data       chlorophyll, sulfates, pesticides, metals, and
                     provided by volunteers. This guide goes on to  hardness.
                     discuss costs and funding issues. The ap-
                     pendix describes five successful State-man-    Assessments of Living Resources
                     aged or sponsored programs. For further in-        Recognizing the connection between the
                     formation on additional volunteer monitor-     quality of waters and the condition of plants
                     ing programs refer to the National Directory of    and animals in and around them, some vol-
                     Citizen Volunteer Environmental Monitoring     unteer programs recruit and train citizens to
                     Programs (USEPA 1990).                         survey living resources. These surveys most
                         This document does not provide detailed     often involve evaluation of benthic macroin-
                     information on specific monitoring methods     vertebrates, fish, birds, and plants. Volun-
                     that might apply to a volunteer effort. EPA    teers may also report on the condition of fish
                     plans to address methods in separate, com-      (noting tumors, growth abnormalities, and
                     panion handbooks for lakes and rivers.         lesions, for example); the incidence of fish













kills and algae blooms; habitat condition and            tions, and identify lakes experiencing water
availability; and the presence and concentra-            quality problems. A secondary objective was
tion of fecal coliform bacteria.                         often to educate the public about lake ecology
                                                        and lake management and protection.
1.2 VOLUNTEERS MONITORSALL                                   The  basic volunteer  lake monitoring
                                                        program asks monitors to collect Secchi depth
Lake Sampling                                            data at one or two stations on their lake, two
    Lakes are often intensively used for rec-           to four times a month during the summer
reation, and in many cases are managed by                season. Volunteers also record observations
homeowner associations. Therefore, they often            on the week's weather, the current uses of the           FIGURE 1.1
have a built-in constituency eager to partici-           lake (number of fishermen, swimmers, boat-               Volunteers monitor a
pate in volunteer monitoring activities. In              ers, etc.) and the apparent condition of the             variety of parameters in
fact, most successful State-managed volun-               lake. Data sheets are provided to list informa-          all types of waters. (The
teer monitoring programs were initially de-              tion on water color, turbidity, odor, sus-               programs listed in this
veloped to enhance State lake monitoring                 pended algae, other aquatic vegetation in the            matrix are provided as
networks. States hoped to use volunteer-col-             lake basin and along the shore, and current              comphensive list of
                                                                                                                 comprehensive list of
lected data to extend their monitoring cover-            activities that could be affecting lake water            existing programs, refer
age, establish baseline lake trophic condi-              quality.                                                 to USEPA 1990.)


                                FIGURE 1.1 Volunteers Monitor a Variety of Parameters in All Types of Waters

 OBSERVATIONS             LAKES             STREAMS/RIVERS           ESTUARIES         NEAR COASTAL WATERS         WETLANDS

 Physical/Chemical  IL  Volunteer Lake    DE Stream Watch       Chesapeake Bay          MA Audubon Boston      Hudson River National
 Measurements in      Monitoring          KY Water Watch        Citizen Montitoring         Harbor             Estuary Research
 Water Column     ME Volunteer Lake       MA Acid Rain           RI  Salt Pond Watchers     Monitoring         Reserve
                       Monitoring             Monitoring         NC Albemarle-Pamlico    WA Adopt-A-Beach      MD Jug Bay Wetlands
                   VT Lay Monitoring       MI  Friends of the        Citizen Monitoring                            Sanctuary
                   NH Lakes Lay                Rouge River       MD Anne Arundel Co.
                       Monitoring                                    Watershed
                   NY Citizens Statewide                             Management
                       Lake Assessment                           FL Tampa Bay SWIM
                   FL Lake Watcheam
                                                                MA Falmouth Pond
                                                                    Watchers
                                                                FL- Friends of Perdido
                                                                AL Bay

 Microbiological                          MI Friends of the     RI Salt Pond Watchers
 Measurements in                             Rouge River
 Water Column

 Visual           IL  Volunteer Lake      Save Our Streams       Chesapeake Bay         Beach Debris          MD Jug Bay Wetlands
 Ecological           Monitoring          NJ  Water Watch       Citizen Monitoring      Cleanups                  Sanctuary
 Surveys          WI Self-Help Lake       NC StreamWatch        RI  Salt Pond                                 WI Wetlands Watch
                      Monitoring                                    Watchers                                  MN Wetlands Watch
                  VT Lay Monitoring                             FL Tampa Bay SWIM
                  FL Lake Watch                                     Team

 Fish and         ME Volunteer Anglers    ME Volunteer Anglers                          NJ Sea Grant
 Shellfish        NH Lakes Lay                                                          American Littoral
 Surveys              Monitoring                                                        Society

 Benthic                                  Save Our Streams
 Macro-invertebrate                       OH Scenic River
 Surveys                                      Stream Quality
                                              Monitoring
 Primary          VT Lay Monitoring                             Cheasapeake Bay         NJ Sea Grant          MD Jug Bay Wetlands
 Producer         NY Citizens Statewide                         Citizens Monitoring                               Sanctuary
 Surveys              Lake Assessment                            RI  Salt Pond
                  NH Lakes Lay Monitoring                           Watchers
                  MT Clark Fork Coalition













                                                                        Approximately 20 years ago, the Izaak
                                                                    Walton League of America developed a sim-
                                                                    plified benthic macroinvertebrate sampling
                                                                    methodology to be used by volunteers to
                                                 -~ 4~ 7~ ;Aassess stream water quality (Save Our
                                                                    Streams). Volunteers are trained to collect
                                                                    benthic macroinvertebrates and sort them
                                                                    into gross taxonomic categories. The density
                                  ;.  . . .. A,                     and diversity of the organisms can then be
                                                                    used to make general statements about the
                                                                    overall water quality of the stream. Vari-
                                                                    ations on this method have been used by
                                                                    several States for initial screening of water
                                                                    quality. If problems are indicated, the State
                                                                    then follows up with more comprehensive
                                                                    biological surveys.

                                                                    Estuarine Sampling
                                                                        In 1987, Congress created the National
                                                                    Estuary Program (NEP) to protect and restore
                                                                    water quality in the Nation's estuaries.The
                                                                    NEP focuses on the development and im-
Photo by Carolyn Rumery Betz                                         plementation of comprehensive management
                                                                    plans for individual estuaries, establishing a
Richard Betz prepares to  Some States use volunteers to collect ad-  working partnership with Federal, State, and
take a Secchi disk   ditional water quality parameters that indi-    local governments; academic and scientific
reading at Devil's Lakconsin.  cate lake trophic status. Volunteers collect  communities; industries and businesses;
                     and filter samples for chlorophyll and nutri-   public action groups; and private citizens.
                     ent analyses. Analytical work is usually per-  The NEP recognizes that public education
                     formed at State or private laboratories, al-    and involvement are essential to the success-
                     though some States provide volunteers with      ful restoration of estuarine waters, and
                     field test kits, allowing them to do the analy-  strongly encourages States to incorporate
                     ses onsite.                                    citizen monitoring programs into their over-
                         A few States have used their volunteers     all control effort. Successful citizen monitor-
                     during fishery and shoreline vegetation sur-   ing programs have been found to enhance es-
                     veys. They have found that the citizens' inti-  tuarine monitoring activities, increase public
                     mate knowledge of the lake and its watershed   understanding of the ecosystem, and build
                     provided useful information not generally      local support for necessary corrective ac-
                     available during a routine assessment.         tions.
                                                                        Estuarine monitoring programs such as
                     Stream and River Sampling                      Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program,
                         Most States maintain a fixed network of    Rhode Island Salt Pond Watchers, and Albe-
                     stream and river stations, sampled regularly   marle-Pamlico Citizen Monitoring Program,
                     for chemical, physical, and biological para-   use volunteers to collect physical and chemi-
                     meters. Special intensive surveys are also     cal measurements in estuaries and in tribu-
                     performed periodically to comprehensively      tary streams and inlets. Since estuarine
                     assess the water quality of a specific stretch  drainage systems are large and complex,
                     of river. Most States with citizen monitoring  volunteers can be especially helpful in up-
                     programs prefer to use State staff for these   stream areas not normally covered by the
                     baseline monitoring activities; volunteers      State's monitoring network. Basic water
                     collect data at secondary water quality sta-    quality measurements such as pH, transpar-
                     tions to complement the State network and       ency, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and tem-
                     may sample regularly for parameters such as    perature can provide useful information to a
                     dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, and         comprehensive monitoring program. Trained
                     nutrients. Some States have also relied on     volunteers can also be used to assess aquatic
                     volunteers for comprehensive synoptic sam-      vegetation in the estuary, and can provide
                     pling efforts and to provide spot checks of    information on acute problems such as spills,
                     specific problems in localized areas.          fish kills, and algae blooms.













Near Coastal Water Assessments                 the effectiveness of wetlands mitigation proj-
    Historically, most States have focused     ects.
their assessment and pollution control ac-
tivities on fresh inland waters, in part be-   1.3 VOLUNTEERS CAN COLLECT USEFUL
cause these are the most stressed and pol-     DATA
luted of their waters, but also because inland     The experience of a number of State-
waters are the easiest to monitor and man-     managed volunteer monitoring programs
age. Many States are only now beginning to     proves that volunteer-collected water quality
incorporate near coastal waters into their     data can be used in many ways by States.
assessment activities and to draw on the       However, it is also evident that volunteer data
assistance of volunteers in these activities.  are underutilized in many States. The reason
This new emphasis has been spurred to some     State program managers most often cite for
extent by EPA's Near Coastal Waters Pro-       not using volunteer data is lack of confidence
gram, part of a long-range initiative by the   in data quality.
Agency to restore and protect the water quality    The most common use of volunteer data
and natural resources of the nation's coastal  may be for screening: potential water quality
areas.                                         problems identified by volunteers are relayed
   At this time, volunteer activity in near   to the State or other authority, which may
coastal waters focuses on beach cleanups. In   follow up with its own assessment or control
cleanup activities sponsored by the Center     action. Volunteer data are also commonly
for Marine Conservation (in 25 States), vol-   used to provide baseline and trend informa-
unteers maintain records on types and          tion on waters or parameters otherwise
amounts of debris collected. Volunteers keep   unmonitored by the State. Of all the data
track of23 different kinds of plastic debris, as  collected by volunteers, lake water quality
well as certain varieties of metal, glass, pa-  data appear to be the most widely used today.
per, and any stranded or entangled wildlife.   This is most likely because lake volunteer
This unique monitoring information has been    monitoring programs are often the best es-
used to obtain ratification by 42 countries of    tablished; a few important measures of lake
a treaty that prohibits the dumping of plas-
tics at sea by cruise ships, fishing vessels,
and merchant and military craft.
                                                     Severa beautil and producrive shallow lagoons, locally
Wetlands                                          n        as alt ponds,         e    slad's south   shore.
    State monitoring and assessment of wet-          e Sep     er 1985, oer volunte  have been monitor-
lands resources is extremely limited. Little, if  wing water qul   parameters every other week, from May
any, water quality monitoring is conducted;      through October, in seven ofLhese ponds. Data collected by the
most assessment activities are limited to        Pond Watchersprogramhave been used:
evaluations of changes in wetland area and
                                                (:evaluations of  the State's water quality assessment report to
rates of loss.
   Volunteer monitoring activities in wet-
                                                             :!::~: epOfE         nental Management
land areas are in their infancy as well. In
Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the South       0;      ([)EM) in deciding on seasonal closure of some of the salt
County Creeks Commission, with technical
assistance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv-      :    by local micipal governments  in zoning and planning
ice, has helped community groups learn to              ba   decisions:
recognize and identify inaccuracies and in-           *bth Stat Cadndymnicipalities in a cooperative
completeness in the U.S. Department of the     ;for to d effrt   evelop local harbor management plans and
Interior's National Wetland Inventory maps      ,      tr I n   s
and to make recommendations for correc-              1 by theSai toievisetegionalsepticsystems construc-
tions (Mary McHenry 1990). Volunteers have      ;     tin standards and to pass legislation to develop waste
also been involved in marsh plant and animal
also been involved in marsh plant and animal   i       wat er management districts for non-sewered areas.
inventories at National Estuarine Research           These applcationsofSatondWatchersdatahave spurred
Reserve sites (Gault, et. al. 1988).             the State DE      agree to establish  a position of State Volun-
    Volunteers can carry out qualitative               ntrgr          nt rc         rwouldwor kwith
assessments and descriptions of physical         ai                            to ensure   at information is
changes in wetlands related to the impacts of    useful or Stat e e      ental decisionmaking (Lee and Kull-
point and nonpoint source discharges. Vol-       berg 1986)i
unteers might also be helpful in monitoring












                                                                   loading due to fertilizers used at a condomin-
                                                                   ium development and changes were made
                                                                   that reduced the runoff to the lake. Data
                                                                   collected by the volunteer monitoring pro-
                                                                   gram at Baboosic Lake in Amherst helped
                                                                   reroute a road expansion project that would
                                                                   have run too close to the lake. Volunteers
                                                                   provided information on septic sludge buildup
                                                                   around Merrimack's Naticook Lake, which
                                                                   resulted in the removal of the material
                                                                   (Schloss 1988).

                                                                   The Lake Lucille Property Owners Asso-
                     I                         _l Esciation has used three years of the New York
                                                                   Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment
                                                                   Program's (CSLAP) data to document the
                                                                   degradation of water quality in Lake Lucille,
                                                                   a 12-acre lake in southeastern NewYork. The
                                                                   analysis of high algae, macrophyte, and
                                                                   nutrient levels, decreasing water depth, and
                                                                   effects of stormwater runoff on water quality
                                                                   has led the association to propose sediment
                                                                   controls at upstream construction sites and
                                                                   a large-scale sediment removal (dredging)
                               Programs."                         daproject throughout most of the lake floor. The
                                                                   local town board has passed the lay monitor-
                                                                   ing results to a consulting firm hired to review
                                                                   these restoration efforts. The collected data
                                                                   are thought to be the most up-to-date techni-
                                                                   cal information available on the water quality
                                                                   of the lake (Survey 1989, Kishbaugh).

                                                                   The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
                                                                   staff has used data from its Citizen Lake
Photo by John Strawbridge                                         Monitoring Program, in conjunction with
                                                                   State-collected chemical data, in a special
Volunteer checks a  qualtiy (e.g., transparency) can be easily    study resultingin a successful finding against
rain gage on the bank  monitored by volunteers; and lakeside home-  the J.L. Kraft Co.  Phosphorus loads to the
of Letter Kenny Lake,  owners are likely to have a strong interest in  Sauk River and the downstream chain of
Conodoguinet Creek,  seeing that the data are used.               lakes were reduced as a result of the finding
Pennsylvania.           Examples of how various State-managed     (Bostrum 1988).
                    volunteer programs use their data are
                    presented below. Some of these examples are   Kentucky's Division of Water used the vol-
                    drawn directly from this document's           unteer data to identify two noncomplying dis-
                    Appendix, "Descriptions of Five Successful    chargers and five stream sites where stan-
                    Programs."                                    dards were exceeded. Although the State
                                                                   does not use volunteer data alone to imple-
                    Screening for Problems                        ment enforcement actions, the citizen moni-
                    Since it was established in 1978, the New     tors have demonstrated that they can reliably
                    Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program        locate water quality problems for further
                    (LLMP) has been of value in helping protect    investigation by State enforcement person-
                    the State's water quality. Data collected by  nel (Appendix, Kentucky).
                    volunteers were instrumental in limiting
                    development that would have impaired Bea-     Providing Baseline Data
                    ver Lake in Derry, and supported a success-   The Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Of-
                    ful effort to install a sewer line around the    fice of Planning and Zoning sponsors a Vol-
                    lake. On Lake Winnipesaukee, volunteer data   unteer Citizen Monitoring Program as part of
                    demonstrated the adverse impact of nutrient    its Watershed Management Program (WMP).













The data collected by the volunteers are used   New York's Citizens Statewide Lake As-
in conjunction with data from two profes-       sessment Program (CSLAP) collects baseline
sional monitoring programs within the WMP       data for preparation of lake-specific manage-
to provide a more complete picture of overall   ment plans, while educating lake residents
water quality. These data are also valuable to  and users about lake ecology, management
the residents of the county, since frequently   practices, and data collection. The data are
the only documented water quality informa-      used to document trends on individual lakes,
tion available for the creeks in these water-   identify specific water quality problems, and
sheds comes from volunteers.  Volunteer         calculate trophic status to support the DEC's
data have also been used to complement data     lake management recommendations to indi-
from State and Federal monitoring programs.    vidual lake associations (Appendix, NewYork).
These data have also been used to demon-
strate siltation of a creek resulting from a   In Illinois' Volunteer Lake Monitoring
highway construction project and to evaluate    Program, volunteers collect baseline data
a stormwater management waiver request.         (primarily Secchi disk depth) for 150 lakes,
(Survey 1989, Haddon).                         most of which are not monitored by State per-   FIGURE 1.2A-B
                                                    sonnel. Federal, State, and local agencies
The Minnesota Citizen Lake Monitoring           refer to the data to document water quality     Comparison of chlorophyll
Program (CLMP) was initiated to detect and      impacts; select priority watersheds for Clean   values (a) and Secchi
                                                                                                        Disk readings (b) between
evaluate changes in lake water quality. The     Lakes funding under Section 314(a) of the       data collected by the New
data are used for trend analysis of water       Clean Water Act, as well as for cost-share      Hampshire Lakes Lay
quality in lakes where 10+ years of data are    funding for soil-erosion control from the U.S.  Monitoring Program and
available. The State staff has also used data   and Illinois Departments of Agriculture;       the Freshwater Biology
to help develop water quality standards for     evaluate the effectiveness of lake protection   Group (FBG) field team at
                                                                                                        the University of New
lakes and in preparing trophic status reports   and management projects: and determine          Hampshire.
(Bostrum 1988).                                 waterbody assessments for the Section 305(b)   soURCE: Schloss 1988.


                                                        FIGURE 1.2
                                           New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program
                                                Volunteer vs. Professional Results

         (a) Chlorophyll a Results                              (b) Secchi Disk Results
       7 








                                                               a  /  0  ftaa                                0
-\208                                                                                         00 rO  ' ,
       5-
                         0:~~~~~~~~~~                                                           0


       2                                                         -






                 1     2     3    4       5     6     7           2          4         6          8          10
                         Lay Monitor Collectors                                  Lay Monitor Collectors
                         Chlorophyll a (mg/m3)                                   Secchi Disk Depth (m)













FIGURE 1.3 A-B

Comparison of results                              ssachusetts Acid Rain Monitoring Program
for samples collected                                Volunr  Pros Results
by Massachusetts Acid
Rain Monitoring (ARM)
program volunteers vs.              (a) pH
ARM staff for pH (a) and      9
alkalinity (b).  /
SOURCE: Godfrey 1988.










                                                                                   R= 0.979


                                                             Professional:Collectors
                                                              pM Standard Units











                                           ~~I(b)  Alkalinity         (gI)


                                                                                   R2'O.994



                                                              Professional Collectors






                     water quality report. Lakes monitored by vol-  Providing High Quality Data
                     unteers are considered to be "evaluated" in        As mentioned above, concern about data
                     305(b) assessments. Only lakes sampled for    quality is a major reason why volunteer data
                     physical, chemical, or biological data by State  are not more widely used. However, many
                     agency personnel are considered to be          programs have demonstrated that volun-
                     "monitored."                                   teers can collect high quality, credible data.
                         In addition to supplementing data collec-  Three examples comparing volunteer and
                     tion, the VLMP has acted as a catalyst for    professional data are provided.
                     local lake protection and restoration efforts:     Figures 1.2A and B show Secchi disk
                     virtually all VLMP lakes have had lake protec-  readings and chlorophyll values collected by
                     tion and management measures implemented       the New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring
                     following participation in the program (Ap-    Program and the Freshwater Biology Group
                     pendix, Illinois).                             field team at the University of New Hamp-















                                                      FIGURE 1.4
                                          Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program
        20 -                              Dissolved Ogygen vs. Date of Collection   A collected by voluteers

                                                                                       * collected by state personnel
        18-

        16-

        14-
                                              A     A
       12-                                *A A      -A   A

     t  10-                      v  * -                * ï¿½                                         *^
                                   AA A                  A                                         AA
         _g                       *           ~A  A

         5  8-    *i o *       *-                              * ^ I.                     -    eAA
         6-CD     * *A                                          *ï¿½          *       A           A

                    4-


         2-

         0-                                                     I          I         I    I     I    I
          JUL  AUG  SEP  OCT  NOV  DEC  JAN  FEB  MAR  APR  MAY  JUN  JUL  AUG  SEP  OCT  NOV  DEC  JAN
          1985                            1986                                                           1987
                                                         Date


shire. While the samples were taken on the      Control Board monitoring station about a         FIGURE 1.4
same day for the same site, they were usually   mile away. These plots indicate that both
done on different vessels at slightly different  data sets represent similar water quality       Plotof dissolved oxygen
done-on different vessels at slightly                                                            concentrations in the
times in the day. Each point represents the     conditions (Wastler 1987).                       James River over time as
comparison of results from a single measure-        These and many other examples from           collected by State and
ment at a single lake site (Schloss 1988).      other programs document the fact that high       citizen volunteers.
    Another comparison between volunteer        quality data can be expected from well-trained   SOURCE: Wastier 1987.
and professional monitoring data is shown in    volunteers.
Figures 1.3A and B. The two graphs give re-
sults for samples collected by Massachusetts
Acid Rain Monitoring (ARM) program volun-
teers vs. ARM staff for pH (a) and alkalinity (b)
(Godfrey 1988).
    Lastly, Figure 1.4 depicts dissolved oxy-
gen data collected by volunteers in the Che-
sapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program
plotted against data from a Virginia Water





                                          *    ï¿½ .     :hsL  .:   :. :ï¿½
















%&











   'I
   *
    49












































                                                                                  0

                                                                                  0
                                                                                  .0













                      S uccessful use of volunteers depends on      qualified State staff to implement the pro-
                     understanding that citizens can be a valu-     gram. These steps are discussed below.
                     able resource for many types of monitoring
                     when they are well-trained and managed. 2.1 ESTABLISH GENERAL GOALS
                     Citizens should not, however, be viewed as an      Citizen monitoring programs are gener-
                     adjunct voluntary service of an agency; rather,  ally developed for three reasons:
                     they are partners who share in environ-             1. To supplement water quality data
                     mental protection. What keeps the volun-       collected by professional staff in water qual-
                     teers together is not a single monitoring task,  ity agencies and scientific institutions.
                     but their expanded role as the guardians and       2. To educate the public about water
                     stewards of their local natural resources.     quality issues.
                     This requires cooperation among regulators,        3. To build a constituency of citizens to
                     resource trustees, and citizens at the local   practice sound water quality management at
                     level. Making this partnership successful is a  a local level and build public support for
                     central challenge of all volunteer monitoring  water quality protection.
                     programs.                                          All three goals will be achieved with a
                         This chapter provides details on plan-     well-organized program, but priorities should
     Volutee moitoingning a volunteer monitoring program to aug-    be set so that the program can be designed to
proluntee coodnatorsn  ment data gathered by other State and re-     meet a clearly stated primary goal. It is im-
from around the country  gional surface water monitoring efforts. Plan-  portant to specify whether gathering data of
exchange ideas in a  ning a State-managed volunteer monitoring       known quality takes priority over public
group discussion at the  program is a multi-step process. To begin,  participation and education. This handbook
First National Workshop  State monitoring directors are urged to take  is directed to those States that will, in fact,
EnionmCtienta Voniteersing  a careful look at their existing programs,  stress the collection of credible data as the
Narragansett, Rhode  identifyr gaps in the data base, and consider   chief goal of their volunteer monitoring pro-
Island. May 1988.    where data collected by volunteers can be       gram.

                                                      I   ~~        2.2 IDENTIFY DATA USES AND USERS
                                                                        Another initial step in planning a suc-
                                                                    cessful volunteer monitoring project that will
                                                                    provide credible information is to clearly
                                                                    identify the use to be made of the data.
                                                                    Environmental data are commonly used:
                                                                        ï¿½ to establish baseline conditions (where
                                                                          no prior data exist);
                                                                        ï¿½ to determine water quality trends; and
                                                                        ï¿½ to identify' current and emerging prob-
                                                                          lems.
                                                                        All prospective data users and their data
                                                                    needs should be identified during the plan-
                                                                    ning stages of the program. Within a State
                                                                    agency, individuals potentially interested in
                                                                    the citizen data can include water quality
                                                                    analysts, planners, environmental engineers,
                                           ~~~~~ ~~~~               fisheries biologists and game wardens, and/
                                                                    or parks and recreation staff. Outside the
                                                                    State agency, the data may be used by uni-
                 Photo b~~~j Steuen SI~~~~v~a                       versity researchers, local government plan-
                 Photo by Steven Silvia nin~~~ng and zoning agencies, Soil and Water
                     used to fill these gaps. This approach will    Conservation Districts, lake associations, or
                     help establish general goals for the program   Federal agencies, such as the US Geological
                     and identifyr uses and potential users of the  Survey, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US En-
                     data (i.e., State, local, or Federal agencies,  vironmental Protection Agency, and the US
                     lake associations, etc.). Next steps include   Department of Agriculture's Soil Conserva-
                     developing a Quality Assurance Project Plan    tion Service.
                     (QAPJP) to establish effective quality assur-      A committee made up of representatives
                     ance and control procedures and assigning      from the identified user groups-including













volunteers-should be convened early in the      implement the prescribed procedures to
planning stage to refine the program objec-     ensure that precision, accuracy, complete-
tives and determine if volunteers can provide   ness, comparability, and representativeness
the level of expertise required. This early     are known and documented.
involvement of all potential user groups is
key to ensuring the success of the volunteer    Determine the Data Quality Objectives
program. If State personnel have helped plan        A full assessment of the data quality
a volunteer monitoring program, they will       needed to meet the intended use should be
support it more enthusiastically, and if vol-   made before QA/QC controls are specified.
unteers are represented in the planning         This can be done through the development of
process, their needs and those of the State     data quality objectives (DQO's). DQO's are
agency will be better integrated.               qualitative and quantitative statements de-
    In addition, to ensure continued and        veloped by data users that establish the
careful data collection, it is important that   variability that can be tolerated by the user
participants see the end use of the data:       and still meet the needs of the program.
    "An agency is better served by volun-       Establishment of DQO's involves interaction
  teers who have a direct stake in what is     of program managers and their technical
  being monitored, when they see them-          staff in deciding what information is needed,
  selves as stewards of their particular
  area and when they benefit from their
  monitoring efforts. One of the more
  successful monitoring projects in Puget
  Sound is the collection of shellfish
  (which are then examined) for red tide                Although the terms quality assurance (QA) and qual-
  contamination. The monitors are rec-              ity control (QC) are frequentlused interchangeably or to-
  reational clam diggers who are anxious            gther, in fact, they have  di fferent  meanings.
  to hear the results of their monitor-
  ing-for obvious reasons!" (Pritchard                  QUALITY ASSU        CE is the whole system  of activi-
   1988)                                             ties that is caed out to provide users with data thatmeet
                                                    defined stadards of qual   with a stated level of confi-
2.3 ESTABLISH QUALITY ASSURANCE                      dence.The QA system includes the coordinated activities
AND CONTROL                                          of quality control  and assessment. It is management's
    Data users and water quality analysts                   and oversight a  he planning, implementation,
must have confidence in the representative-          and completion stages     of an environmental data collection
ness, consistency, and accuracy of data col-         activity that  assresd t                 data users are
lected by volunteers. Effective quality assur-       of the quality needed and claimed.
ance and quality control (QA/QC) proce-
dures and a clear delineation of QA/QC                    UALITY  CONTROL refers to those activities per-
responsibilities are therefore essential to          formed during envi ronmental data collection to produce
ensure the utility of environmental monitor-         data of desired quality to document that quality. It in-
ing data.                                              udes acttes designed to ensure that no systematic
    The USEPA QA/QC program requires                 bias devel in te analysis system (beyond what is nor-
that all EPA national program offices, EPA           mally present) that would exceed the accepted accuracy
regional offices, and EPA laboratories partici-      and precision limits of the analysis Therefore, this proc-
pate in a centrally planned, directed, and           ess involves     determining the "precision and accuracy" of
coordinated Agencywide QA/QC program.                the numbers. Italso involvesplanning control procedures
This requirement also applies to efforts car-        to ensure that the analysis stays "in control" and that data
ried out by the States and interstate agencies       of known quality are produced.
that are supported by EPA through grants,
contracts, or other formalized agreements.               A third term, QUALITY ASSESSMENT  involves a
The EPA QA program is based upon EPA               0ontinuing e  valuation of the performance of the people
order 5360. 1, "Policy and Program Require-          collecting and analyzing the data. Technicians and labo-
ments to Implement the Quality Assurance             ratory chemists undergo periodic inspections and "au-
Program" (USEPA 1984a), which describes              dits" to check their performance They exchange samples
the policy, objectives, and responsibilities of      as well as analyze split sampls to make sure no errors are
all EPA program and regional offices.                developi g.
    Each office or laboratory which gener-
ates data under EPA's QA/QC program must












                                          ? ............... .  2.4 ASSIGN STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES
                   DEFINITIONS                                      It is essential to the success of a volun-
                                                                teer monitoring program that a qualified staff
ACCURACY-DeDgree~of agr eementwthtruvalu, ameas-                person be chosen to coordinate it. That per-
ure of bias in a system (refers to e quipmentr prcedure)        son should, ideally, have a technical back-
                                                                ground and experience in recruiting, train-
PRECISION -Measur          e of mutual a greement among in-     ing, and managing volunteers. The State
vidual measurements, reproducibilty (refers to  ierson          coordinator should also enjoy working with
using the equipment)..                                          the public and have a strong commitment to
                                                                the program. Without a coordinator with
REPRESENTATIVENESS-Degrese qualifications, the program may en-
rately and precise      ly represent a environmental condition.  counter problems.
                                                                    The Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring
COMPARABILITY-A measure of confidence with whi                  Program, for example, began its efforts using
one data set can be compared to another.                        staff from different State agencies to coordi-
                                        MP0 \t; \i;0in0; 0t  0~i nate monitors; lack of central coordination
COMPLETENESS-A measure ofamount  of alid data ob-               proved to be a serious obstacle to the pro-
tained compared to the amount expected to be o;btained          gram. An attempt was made to give the
                                                                program's coordination activities to a con-
                                                                tractor. This also failed because of insuffi-
                                                                cient commitment by the contracting organi-
                 why it is needed, how it will be used, how it    zation. The Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring
                 will be collected, and any time/resource       Program concluded that one central coordi-
                 constraints affecting data collection. It is    nator with technical expertise and personal
                 especially important to get the formal in-     commitment was necessary to maintain the
                 volvement and support of your Quality As-      program.
                 surance Officer during the development of          Planning and implementing a successful
                 DQO's. By involving everyone who plans to      volunteer monitoring program is a full time
                 use the data, as well as the groups assigned   job and it should be the coordinator's top
                 to collect it, one can increase the likelihood  priority at all times (see sample job descrip-
                 that it will meet the needs of the user(s).    tion on p. 25). Although exact duties may
                 USEPA (1984b) describes the process for    vary between programs, in general the coor-
                 developing DQO's in more detail.               dinator will:
                                                                    * serve as administrator of the project;
                 Develop a Quality Assurance Plan
                     USEPA order 5360.1 also requires State         ï¿½ recruit and train volunteer monitors;
                 monitoring programs supported by EPA               ï¿½ receive, store, and analyze data:
                 grants to prepare Quality Assurance Project        * produce reports that summarize the
                 Plans (QAPjP). A QAPjP documents the relia-          data; and
                bility of monitoring data by formally stating
                 the program objectives, organization, moni-          carry out quality control activities
                 toring procedures, and specific QA and QC          The coordinator must maintain close
                 activities designed to achieve the data quality  contact with the volunteers to ensure that the
                 goals of the program. The QAPjP must de-       stated QC standards of the data are met and
                 scribe the procedures that document preci-     to be available to answer questions promptly.
                 sion, accuracy, and completeness of environ-   After all, a large part of the volunteers' reward
                 mental measurements and specify the re-    for services rendered is access to the knowl-
                 sulting level of confidence.                   edge of experts in the field, as well as the
                     Information on preparing a QAPjP is    perceptionthattheirconcernsarebeingheard
                 included in Chapter 4.1. In addition, three    by people with the ability and authority to
                 EPA guidance documents are available to        respond to these concerns.
                 assist in preparation of the Quality Assur-        Some States have enlisted the support
                 ance Project Plan: a general guidance docu-    and cooperation of regional and local govern-
                 ment (USEPA 1980), a guidance document         ments to help with training volunteers and in
                 that combines a work plan with the QAPjP       the coordination of the program. Illinois uses
                 (USEPA 1984c), and a guide for preparing       its Regional Planning Commissions for this
                 plans for the National Estuary Program         purpose. Anne Arundel County, Maryland
                 (USEPA 1988).                                  recruits a volunteer team leader for each wa-














                           SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION
                  VOLUNTEER MONITORING COORDINATOR


         The Volunteer Monitoring Coordinator has the following
         responsibilities:

         In consultation with state agency personnel and other interested
     parties, determine which watersheds and which parameters in these
     watersheds will be monitored.

         Recruit volunteers for each project. This will involve contacting
     interested groups, elected officials, and possibly businesses and indus-
     tries in the area.

         Make arrangements for a place to conduct a training session and
     arrange a time to suit a majority of volunteer monitors. Train any vol-
     unteers who are unable to attend the training session.

         Keep in close touch with individuals at beginning of project. Answer
     any questions volunteers may have. Read over each data sheet as it
     comes in and contact any monitors who seem to be having trouble.
     Send refill reagents and replacement equipment upon request.

         If required, enter all data in a suitable computer filing system.
     Carry out documentation and verification on the data. Provide plots of
     data to monitors and to data users. Carry out preliminary data inter-
     pretation. (These data management activities may be carried out by
     other State staff or volunteers. If so, the volunteer monitoring coordina-
     tor will assume an advisory role.)

         Provide feedback to participants and data to users. This will involve
     writing progress reports and articles for publication in the program
     newsletter.

         Plan for and carry out quality control sessions. There should be one
     about three months after start-up of any new project and at six month
     intervals thereafter.

         Prepare quarterly reports for the sponsoring agency.





tershed. This volunteer is responsible for the  manager to the volunteer in the field-under-
collection and initial proofreading of data  stand and agree on the goals, limits, and
forms and for dispensing replacement rea-    needs of the program they are launching.
gents and equipment as needed. In NewYork,   Only when the basic planning groundwork is
some county planning offices and regional    laid should the State move on to implement
soil and water conservation districts coordi-    its volunteer monitoring program.
nate with local lake associations.
   In summary, it is clear that many people
from a variety of agencies and backgrounds
should be involved during the planning phase
of a State-coordinated volunteer monitoring
program. The most important planning task
they face is to ensure that all interested
parties-from the State agency program














                                                                                         * ~~* ~  ~    ï¿½  n,.I~  *~,ï¿½                     C,








                          w ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                        
















le    -, ~,~~N











         ~~~~    -~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
                                                             BY O,  11   4
                                                                 ,~   4 14


















                                     JL 









                                  1w~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IIi





















                                                                                           '01~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

                 Ift ~~~~~~~~~~~~II   I'                                          I~~~~~~~~~~~~~4












                        The experience of several State-managed       known to be successfully tested by volun-
                      volunteer monitoring programs has shown         teers; 3) an available pool of people willing to
                      that implementation should begin with a         participate; 4) physical and legal access to
                      pilot project. A pilot project allows the State  the water.
                      to test its chosen approach-its recruitment
                      and training procedures, its equipment and      Select Sampling Equipment
                      parameters for testing, and its data manage-        The first step in selecting the best equip-
                      ment and analysis procedures-on a limited       ment for the pilot project is to test existing
                      scale before moving on to an expanded pro-      kits and equipment, picking those which
                      gram.                                           appear to meet program needs. These kits
                          This chapter will focus on setting up a     and equipment should then be tested on
                      pilot project that can serve as the starting    water samples of known quality to determine
                      point for the State's volunteer monitoring      accuracy, precision, and ease of use. Consid-
                      program. Procedures outlined in this section    erations in selecting a piece of equipment or
                      apply as well to the implementation of the      kit include the level of skill required to use it;
                      post-pilot program. This chapter will go on to  the cost of the kit; and any limitations the kit
                      discuss how to expand the pilot project, and    may place on the data that are collected. A
                      provides advice on maintaining the interest     partial list of chemical and equipment com-
                      of participating volunteer monitors.            panies that currently supply volunteer pro-
                                                                        grams is presented in Table 3-1.
                      3.1 ESTABLISHING A PILOT PROGRAM                    Once volunteers have been recruited, ex-
                          The pilot project provides an opportunity   tra equipment and reagents should be or-
                      for the coordinator and supporting personnel    dered to allow for breakage in transit and
                      to encounter on a small scale the types of      addition of sites or monitors during the re-
                      problems they will face in setting up a state-  cruitment process. Extra equipment may
                      wide program. The average pilot project will    also be needed to train assistants and to
                      probably be limited in scope to one large       allow for possible loss or breakage by the
                      watershed or several smaller ones.              volunteers. Establish a policy to identify who
                                                                        will be responsible for paying for lost or bro-
                      Pick a Location                                 ken equipment (free replacements are prefer-
                          The pilot project should begin in an area   able in most circumstances).
Table 3.1            that can be successfully monitored by volun-         When the sampling equipment has been
                i    teers. Factors to consider include: 1) a real    selected and the sampling protocol has been
Scientific Supply Houses.  need for water quality information from this  established, an instruction manual should
A partial list of chemical  area, thereby ensuring the immediate use of  be prepared. Manuals that have been pub-
and scientific equipment
companies that currently  the data collected: 2) a need for the type of  lished by other volunteer monitoring pro-
supply volunteer programs.    data that can be obtained with methods  grams may be suitable. However, it is helpful



                                                      TABLE 3-1
                                               SCIENTIFIC SUPPLY HOUSES
    PRODUCT NAME                      ADDRESS/PHONE NO.                              DESCRIPTION
 LaMotte Chemical Products, Inc. PO Box 329, Chestertown, MD 21620, 1-800-344-3100.  Chemical test kits for field and lab.

 VWR Scientific.          PO Box 2643, Irving TX 75061,1-800-527-1576.  Scientific instruments and chemicals.

 Thomas Scientific        Main Office, 609-467-2000.             Scientific instruments and chemicals.

 Millipore Corporation   Technical Services, 1-800-225-1380.     Specializing in bacterial testing.

 HACH Company             PO Box 389, Loveland, CO 80539,1-800-525-5940.    Chemical test kits for field and lab.

 Fisher Scientific       711 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219,1-800-225-4040 Scientific instruments and chemicals.

                         This is only a partial list of potential suppliers and does not imply endorsement by USEPA.
















to provide specific written information about                                                         Figure 3.1
the particular project. The manual should in-SaeOrtemstem
clude background information on what para-                        SAVE OUR STREAMS            S        utiySrveam Foremh
meters are being measured and how the dat                         Streamn Quality-Survey    Q     u    ak aliton Leagu ForTh
                                                              ThePh. p  Vssthi~ Fee   is it Ydys  fK9heJtgeead Mssdieg i  adaredataabetatnehaalth of Y..,  America.
to be obtained relate to local water  qualitstemereydi craesesttdeeesayaoerstasaidt tmarss et
problems. It can also include step-by-step          r1.     5eahtedater~aadty.Rtdth. Ogeetsesndidt
instructions, with illustrations, on the use of      sra                             ______
the sampling equipment.                              est-                            ______

Design a Data Collection FornYa mis etettrtrrstesntartttatttteaeha 3Z-6irestrst. adtha bed
     Most monitoring data, including data            metseeeeseeetee
collected by volunteer programs, are stored
and managed by computer. Data users anid             S   abr____  aelm_____
the data base manager should be involved in          Tpotsl    msiadbaeas.      eeeetet~. .te
the development of the Data Collection Form
                                                             Watsyper tatttd  Deb        SM1,111ry,0f  ntream W.,
to be sure that its inform-ation can be easily          barhm:ld                  sifleeeeethsa
and accurately computerized. Consideration              =S4%edshetse  seedl
should also be given to the ease with which             mua~eaJdo                  _tassaal
the formn can be filled out and understood by         _0~         OaW
the volunteers. Examples of Data Collection
Forms used by existing programs are shown            %tk~~es5Yasa              a 
in Figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.(See Appen-Towk
dix: for more examples.) Duplicate formis,
such as carbonless copies, make it possible              si        lighs             'tg egb
for volunteers to maintain their own records.           % r1(10 ~e.S     brswheated    -1.bed eae
                                                              - 4 Dubbts  Wt2 1W Ottr' vo .*   ... fted set strea bed
     Recording the "raw" numbers actually                daseab5t5)       bir
measured by the monitor minimizes later              6 gmaewhhh"e fbes then)
questions and confusion about the observed            hiiikCwaeafeagae  e ats steet    ~sts trs e    (7001528-1etd
value reported. Any arithmetic should be
carried out by the coordinator, preferably
using a computer. As an example, see Figure
3.3, the Severn River Data Collection Form.         MACROINVgRTEBRATE COUNT
The monitor records the observed hydrome-               tteeae 15..h-bC.deeeetseedevbeetsaittedia
ter reading and the temperature of the water        V55  stea headtestaee etesldc isssamtedyteneetedoas
in thejar at time of measurement. The correc-           00QOD         PAIR,         POOR
                                                                  ca2deddiety teese  hmeate tesa 3aasiaemm
tion for temperature and the subsequent                    d11        mtn
                                                                     meytt etmp   easetytaae-eets
conversion from density to salinity are car-               atyrenah                     Idg lalyr ~ e
                                                                    'Ite penhlaee  vd
ried out using look-up tables or by computer.              ftstyyye       aasttasmqvhs
Potential errors made in the correction and                               saey
conversion process are minimized.-                         eeeen         settmetetm
                                                                  fw vai timesy2" I N tre"= iet

Recruit 'Volunteers                                                                             G psediemD
    As soon as the State coordinator has            reethaesasysniaebaateetiteekestsyneemteskedrtrnphm~r
decided where  the pilot project will be            ~        ev~z         sdI-2
launched and what equipment will be used,           ~      taaedi~        Pstse
                                                            Nate,  Yea iNtedt teat at teat a ditteettttle e 01 vithts a    4d-ts  area, a. esae hit eas  have a tait
volunteers can be recruited. The first step is      tpearaieapehvisaeatrytsim.Yeeyiasntsmlsmetessi
to identify all organizations and individuals       esstmasmte etehhnseasmyleeatetiersmtetadierta
in the area who might want to participate in           _1eed WUf mersth~itt reratses etrst
the project. Likely groups include civic asso-    ~ e..1 d hilte    ~ beme dae,"%
ciations, watershed associations, environ-           Lba~t gody,  ~      ataai
mental advocacy groups, commercial and                  atdntes
recreational users of the waterbody, govern-        rsteewtmsc          tsrs    tms-sae  _ ed
inent officials and agencies, waterfront prop-      Aeheesddhitpei     em     eeta.veree
erty owners, and public schools, community          Dats etbaadeatstetdtrieayhreesss'ahysmmhse
colleges, and universities. State employees             %tdeetisme tadth
and advisors may know people who would
like to be involved or may wish to volunteer if
they live in the chosen watershed.





















Figure 3.2                                 now to6FiI Out the Data Ptciard


(Top left) Data Postcard                             II                                                                                                                                                                                   2140topot:lyPoga

used by the Wisconsin                                                                                                                                                                                                         BA
Self-Help  Lake MonitoringCll0   rItP   ltffi
Program.                                                                                                                                                                                           DT  i~ri   o



                                                                                                                                                                                     ~~~~~~~~soit.o 510
                                                                                 SoofA~~~a~imoonoi =fttrobb                                                         A   ei io .     ti      ________
                                                                                                    Depot  tofitoal    On    119,                                    'Fia~~~~~~~~~~.Pot chrwiL,,o _________

                                                                                                t~~tfci~n0.f.                                                        Monitor 195.10                                          Monitor MonGbOr-
                                                                         Wo.Jqd(_ntoa           Cvnh        ~ o           ine                                        ieiat.e            I     ___________V50dtobew                                 ____
                                                                                                piron,~~~5oe090c00~~~acr~~th                                         Aibukpot)rt___ 





                                                                -1      lfif    .-I. Pn00.ldtn no0o      quirh   Do-h Ai 1'. dwte
                                                                11        - c -1 .1 .-1 .0O  cnfaroo-f0*on, bbit.,.1 Ab ,              1w-Ir  Dpit 



                  (Top right)~~~~~~~~ Allane 0rflh.-cp                                                                                                                          d    .          nk(i-ikythtit  W t  P .   Cao
                                                                                   tti~on00iitl0rt1Apfnno~nnfetottY.~ , *I.f- p.                                                                           ____   St, (tiador 0.. thittly
                                          fo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~irobhe Ceaek Bayof Tro   lt .1   lbi                                                                                                                   .   Arr5o . tl   h             flb
                                                                      1.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~' to .001  b.0. no.000dt  lot    ., enbfli  ein.  oc  ra   0re            1  Fit   2  Rippl             P ae           4tin. v.d Capt

FiueP3roegooramn  teaf, ta Collte~cm n                                                                ti re~   0 .  0,on inertlo o                                       Condlr-         2  l- rrly Ciady d              Pcrer        A b.)o
_______________ort   mItnoc. 0O 1.6dOl. b                                                                           ef .-Olk   1 o,.rf  oe,,eCf                            tob               noeeetlf                     100         510
                                                                                                                  ir. (eo.000. , tO tin.                               comef0sks0t.O.tyo                                  I
                           (Toprigt)  llincea.  ncottiff~ntenr det eC~l'no00  e                                                                                      nyll              .         n  (Iroby anneilnt nuentr 0    iton  airofl
                                                                  noh.Ib--  4.    t 00 n-lb ld ,tyte I                  w

                                                                                                            I.ote rfO, 000 001 Pef Lb ct I. 0 .                            9  Psle:              itpbte               i   Oo
                     Program~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b, Dat ColcIo  I . ftt 10~t taehbi000a  lof 11,tifd        ot
                                                                   olellf C rde  tf tclnOo  n  oaMnrClo:                                                                               (ioecnoo   eerbl                 arn          iooe



                               Form.                   Of 00. fete. OC~~~~~~~~~ore 00 of rote 000 of~~~~~~~~~t~tf  0. Ifof in eq nerfe .0000 eta 0.ct~~~~~~' ...  .  ... ..t.te..
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~0500:otlFtr  00  an  ootrffoei                                                                                            g          Ce~tf               (hennntooryure 3if4

                           f~~~~~~~~~ottom~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ie r1ffhte and lntstefet)O
             B~~~~~~~~~~~.t~ea~~~dffoeoerchff                                                   C     leanup tcneDerrataoofo
                                                                                                   Aore foe cf~tf an.. .000, fete.  oar 00.01000, info to tin t'et n,  t
                           Card, Center for~~~~~~~~~le                                                      o r a.  p . 0   f e   tf   t   r o te                  i  c nr  o  _ _  __ _  _ _ __  _ _  _ __    a  ~   _ _ _  _ __  _ _ _  _
             E~~~~~~~~~~~~~nviro.,nmtrf  ene~tatl,,  fnOoi Edu~c a                                    eele otiOoe n. PLASM fc  f





                                                                 CO f~le.Octr  0.000eef   dtro Wut       cinlaf  ff8.




                                                                                                  O~~e rote, no Ofeclee ode,. ton 0.te ad









              Figue 34                                                        BACHCLENUPDAT.CAR                                                                                                   r(MSky.ur.r
                                                                                                                                                                                         fnwofntfrotoamycdttnontnlo~rgoremoonoton-e

                                           (Bottom  righ  and left)                                 ~inr0:Ocrnoot~r~inonO~cinten'nififrn0totstffiroatnoenccrGfASS

              Beach  Cleanup Data                    c~~~traoeocein0*nnini *                                                                       A                                                                                                 Oct.
                     CadCntrfo                       1010.fttrncoe0*lAL. ;EP A/f/A 
                Env~~~~~~~~~~~~~Irnmna  Edcto.o                                             a..r                    0r0                                            Ob-C~ 













    Strive to recruit volunteers from a wide      tions can be answered, the degree of volun-
range of backgrounds. This helps establish        teer interest can be gauged, and arrange-
the program's credibility and ensures coop-       ments can be made for training.
eration within the community. Participant             The State may wish to develop a one year,
diversity provides the bonus of educating a       performance-based "contract" as one way to
greater variety of citizens in the community.     ensure that those who agree to participate in
    Certain types of individuals or groups        the program are fully committed.
may be more suitable than others for your
particular project. Both the Chesapeake Bay       Train Volunteers
Citizen Monitoring Program and the New                The initial training of the volunteers is
Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program            crucial. Without such training, usable, high
report failure in integrating students and        quality data cannot be obtained, and volun-
youth groups into long-term monitoring            teers will soon grow frustrated. A few practi-
programs because of the commitment re-            cal considerations should be noted here:
quired and the need for summertime sam-                1. The coordinator should be sure to
pling.                                                 schedule the training session for a time
    An attractive brochure or flier describing        when most volunteers can attend-most
the overall volunteer monitoring program              often an evening or a weekend.                 Figure 3.5
can be an effective recruitment tool. This            2.  Potential monitors should be told          Sample Language
brochure should include information on the            beforehand how long the training will          for Liability Waiver.
objectives of the program-describing the
benefit to the volunteer and to the resource--
and should explain what will be expected of                                     FIGURE 3.5
recruits.
    A letter giving more details about the
pilot project should also be developed and                                      WAIVER
include information on:                             In consideration of the foregoing, I, myself, my heirs, and executors do
                                                     hereby release and discharge all Boston Harbor Monitoring Program
     proposed monitoring site locations:            supporting organizations for all claims, damages demands, actions, and
    * project duration and length of commit-        whatsoever in any manner arising or growing out of my participation in
      ment required of volunteers;                  said monitoring program.
    * sampling frequency;                           Signature:
    * required equipment for volunteers (car
      or boat);                                     Dat
    * volunteer qualifications, if any (back-
      ground in laboratory techniques or            Ifa volunteer is under 18years of age, a parent or guardian must sign the waiver
      knowledge of aquatic biology are ideal.       SRCE: Massachusetts Audubon Society 1986
      However, it should be kept in mind
      that setting specific volunteer qualifi-
      cations will limit participation in the                              IMPORFNTNOTE-LIABILITY
      program, possibly below an effective             The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (Water Quality Bureau
      minimum level).                              of the Division of Environmental Quality) intends that citizen volunteers
                                                    participating in this program are not acting on behalf of the Department
    The letter and brochure should be sent to      of Health and We        any  ficial capacity. As such, it is the Depart-
all identified interest groups. A short time        ment's intent that citizen volunteers are not authorized to be considered
later, the State volunteer coordinator should       agents, employees, or authorized representatives of the Department for
call the leaders of those groups and offer to       any purpose, and that citizen volunteers are not entitled to the same
                                                    benefits enjoyed by Department employees.
                                                        Citizen volunteers must recognize the potential for injury to them-
tions about the project. If possible, the coor-     selves and theirreal and personal property, and to other persons and their
dinator should develop a short slide presen-       real and personal property, which may result from citizen volunteer
tation that describes the program and shows        activities conducted under the Citizens Volunteer Monitoring Program.
some of the sampling equipment and tech-           The Department intends that citizen volunteers expressly assume all
                                                    risks and liabilit for any injuries to, or caused by, citizen volunteers
niques. This will make it easier for potential     under this Program
volunteers to determine whether or not they          Citizen volunteer will be instructed in proper sampling techniques
would be interested in volunteering and are         and handling of sample preservative acids. They will also be cautioned
capable of carrying out the tests.                 that if there is ever any doubt, they sould give safety priority over
    Followup calls to the organizations that       sampling. Every participant will also recive a copy of this study plan and
                                                    sampling procedures.
have been visited are essential in enlistingatty 198
volunteers. During the call, personal ques-














Figure 3.6
                                                                      Figure 3.6
Example Quality Control
Exercise. The volunteers                     DIRECTIONS/FLOW DIAGRAM FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE EXERCISE
were divided into two
groups to avoid
congestion at any one
station. Test solutions                              Place thermometer in room temperature water bath
were: A - Bay water,                                                   4
B - vinegar and water with                              Collect and fix 2 DO samples of Solution E
pH of 4.0, C - pH 7.0 buffer                                           X
solution, D-ammonia and                                   Read room temperature thermometer
water with pH of 10.                                                   X
E - container of Bay water                                   Place thermometer in ice bath
for testing dissolved
oxygen (00). F - container
of water having no
dissolved oxygen.
diss - cooler with roomd oxygen.     GROUP ApH                                               GROUP B-Hyvdrometers
temperature water and      Test and record pH units on solutions                       Place hydrometer in Solutions J, K, L, &
tempice ath. JKer and                A, B, C, D.                                         M: Record Specific Gravity and
H - ice bath. J, K, L, M -
hydrometer jars containing                                                                       Temperature.
water of different salinity
values.
SOURCE: Chesapeake Bay                                      Complete DO test on Solution E
Citizen Monitoring                                            Record value and Clean up
Program.                                                 Collect and fix DO samples of Solution F



                                  Group B- Do pH as above                                    GROUP A-Take Hvdrometer
                                                                                                  readings as above

                                                              Complete DO test on Solution F
                                                                  Record and Clean up

                                                                       BREAK

                                                               Compare data/discuss results


                            last and that they must plan to stay for       information on the watershed, the problems
                            the entire session. The training session       that led to the decision to undertake this
                            should last no longer than four hours.         project, what the data will be used for, and
                            3. The program coordinator must have           how the project will benefit the volunteers,
                            adequate assistance. Nothing will dis-         the community and the State. More detailed
                            courage volunteers more than a poorly-         background information can be included in
                            run initial training session. Generally, a     the instruction manual or other written
                            1:5 trainer to volunteer ratio is needed to    materials.
                            ensure that volunteers can be closely               2. A restatement of what will be expected
                            observed and corrected as they begin           of the participants-how long the training
                            learning sampling techniques. Groups of        session will last and how long the project is
                            more than 20 people are difficult to           expected to continue.
                            manage.                                             3. Distribution of all equipment and an
                                                                             explanation, in general terms, of its use; what
                            4. Any onsite (water's edge) activities
                            should be carried out at a location similar    would constitute abuse; what items are par-
                            to that which the monitors will encounter      ticularly fragile; replacement policy and cost;
                                                                             and policy on returning the equipment at the
                            at their assigned sites.
                                                                             end of the project.
                            A training session agenda should include            4. An overview of all necessary safety
                        the following activities:                           requirements. Safety measures should be
                            1. Presentation on the goals and objectives    carefully explained in the written materials
                        of the project, preferably by a representative      and should be brought to the attention of
                        of the user agency or group. This presentation      volunteers at this point, emphasizing chemi-
                        can include why people monitor, historical          cal emergency information. If boats are being












used for sampling, volunteers should be           a site visit and evaluate the monitor's sam-
reminded about basic safety practices. If it is   pling procedures.
necessary to collect liability waivers (see           Quality control exercises should be as
Figure 3.5), pass these out and discuss the      interesting as possible. There are two basic
approach the sponsoring group or agency is        approaches:
taking.                                               1. All attendees carry out the tests on the
    5. An overview of the actual monitoring      same water sample with their own equipment
procedures. A slide show of step-by-step          the way they do it at their site. They fill out
procedures is very helpful.                       and submit a data collection form with their
    6. A trial run-through of the procedures.    results; or                                       Figure 3.7
Trainers should first demonstrate proper              2. All attendees read and record results
methods, then circulate among the volun-         from previously set up laboratory equipment        Example Quality Control
                                                                                                        Exercise. The volunteers
teers as they practice what they have learned.    and kits similar to a classroom laboratory        took readings from
    7. Question and answer session.              practical exam.                                   samples that were set up
    The Ohio Scenic River Volunteer Moni-             Data collection forms with the results       around the room. The
toring Program Coordinator recommends that        recorded are submitted independently. The         temperature, pH, and
                                                                                                        hydrometer samples had
participants be given a week or so to consider    results can than be compared to determine           hydrometer samples. The
their level of commitment after the initial      bias. (See Figures 3.6 and 3.7 for examples of    dissolved oxygen sample
workshop. This will screen out those who          protocol and instruction sheets for QC exer-      was taken from a bucket
may simply be "caught up in the moment,"         cises.)                                            of water collected from a
and not actually willing to make a long-term,         The results from these sessions provide a     nearby tidal river.
                                                                                                        SOURCE: Chesapeake
serious commitment to the program (Kopec         measure of how well the members of the             Bay Citizen Monitoring
1990).                                           group perform and how precisely they meas-        Program.

Conduct Ongoing Quality Control
                                                                                     Figure 3.7
    Quality control (QC) is extremely impor-
tant in all monitoring programs and can be a                                CONTRO   ADIT FORM
source of criticism in programs that use            DIRECTIONS:  You may take readings of the various samples in any order. This
volunteers in monitoring. The challenge for                    should minimize waiting.
volunteer program managers is to carry out
                                                     TEMPERATUREeepthe bulb of the thermometer in the water at all times so that the
QC exercises that assess the precision of the                  readings will be consistent from one person to the next. Record
data being collected but are also fun and                      temperature to the nearest 0.5 C.
interesting for the volunteers. Experienced
volunteer coordinators recommend turning           HYDROMETER: Record four (4) decimal places on the hydrometer readings and the
these quality control sessions into educa-                       tempaturetothenearest50C.
tional and social opportunities for the volun-     pH:   cord pHto Ihnearest 0.5 unit
teers, while making sure that volunteers
understand why QC is important. Quality            bDISSOLVED   Do one titration using your own kit. When you rinse the sample
control sessions can be held anywhere there        OXYGEN:   bottle, pour the rinsewater into the jar beside the bucket and be very
is sufficient space, light, and access to a sink            . m  :gentle when filling theosample bottle to avoid aerating the water in
                                                                  the bucket.
(for cleanup) and facility for safe waste dis-
posal.                                             SECCHI DEPTH: (Weather Permitting) Go to the place marked on pier and take reading
    The first QC  session should be held
about 3-4 months after sampling begins to                                      RESULTS
make sure that all monitors are sampling           Temperature:  Reading     ï¿½C      Thermometer#
and analyzing in a consistent fashion, and to                  Reading        C      Thermometer #
answer any questions. Thereafter, two QC                        Reading      ï¿½C  Thermometer#
sessions should be held each year if sam-
pling goes on throughout the year. If sam-                 : J1               reading_    Temperature___
pling is carried out on a seasonal basis,                      Jar #3: Hydrometerreading    Temperature_  C
retraining and training sessions for new
monitors can be held at the beginning of the       pH:         Comparator #1              Standard Units (SU)
sampling period and a QC check session can                     Comparator #2               Standard Units (SU)
be scheduled for the middle of the season.          : :;t;;:                               Standard Units SU)
    Volunteers should be expected to attend        Dissolved Oxygen Titration:             mg/l or ppm
all scheduled sessions. If a volunteer cannot      Secehi depth:                           m
attend at least one session a year, the coor-
dinator (or a trained assistant) should make  












                    ure the characteristics and constituents      equipment, and other materials used in the
                     required.                                     pilot project. To get such feedback, coordina-
                        Volunteers should be expected to sample   tors should prepare questionnaires to be
                     on a schedule agreed to when they committed   distributed at the initial training session and
                    to participate in the program. Sampling       at the end of the pilot phase.
                    schedules are usually missed for very basic       At the end of the pilot phase, participants
                    reasons-sampling equipment breaks or the      can be asked to critique the entire program.
                                                                   Questions that may be included are:
                                                                       * Did you find the instruction manual
                                                                         adequate? Any suggestions for improve-
                                                                         ment?
                                                                         Did you have any trouble carrying out
                                                                         the tests? If yes, which ones and in
                                                                         what way?
                                                                         What have you enjoyed most about
                                                                         your involvement in this project?
                                                                       - What have you enjoyed least? Sugges-
                                                                         tions for improvement?
                                                                       ï¿½ Would you be willing to continue and
                                                                         for how long?
                                                                       ï¿½ Did you receive enough information
                                                                         about the program to allow you to get
                                                                         maximum benefit from your participa-
                                                                         tion? What would you like to see added?
                                                                       c  General suggestions for improving the
                 _:~. .-  -----                                         program?
                                                                       A complete report should be prepared for
                                                                   the data users and the advisory committee.
Photo by Cynthia Dunn.                                            This should include the results of the pro-
                                                                   gram evaluation questionnaires, a complete
Volunteers will count  monitor runs out of reagent, for example. The  listing of the data collected,time-series plots
the fish caught in a  coordinator should therefore keep replace-   or graphs of the data, and recommendations
seine net in a marsh  ment equipment and reagents on hand at all    for program continuance and improvement.
creek on Port Isobel
Island, Virginia.   times and send requested replacements by
                    return mail. The amount of reagent needed     3.2 EXPAND THE PROGRAM
                    for most tests can be anticipated and replace-    An effective strategy for program expan-
                     ments can be sent before the current sup-     sion will rest on the foundation laid at the
                     plies are depleted. The amount of a given     beginning of the program. Assuming the pilot
                     reagent supplied at one time and the fre-    project has been successful, the expansion
                    quency of its replacement will depend on the    will consist of branching out to more sites,
                    reagent's shelf life. other watersheds or additional analyses. Any
                        Inclement weather, vacations, and other   problems that have been encountered during
                     personal considerations may also cause        the pilot project can be corrected before and
                    volunteers to occasionally miss sampling      during program expansion.
                     schedules during the year. If the project's       Planning for expansion should be based
                     data quality objectives require absolute      on the results of the evaluation of the pilot
                    adherence to the sampling schedule, reliable    project and in consultation with the advisory
                     substitutes should be recruited. Neighbors    committee and data users.
                     can plan to share a site, for instance. These     It will be necessary to identify sources of
                     substitutes should receive the same rigorous  funding and to make certain that volunteers
                     training as the regular volunteers and should  are available in the new locations. Essen-
                     carry out the sampling procedures every 4-6    tially, all the initial planning steps need to be
                    weeks.                                        repeated to ensure an orderly and timely
                                                                   expansion.
                     Refine Program Materials                          Remember that program expansion will
                        Volunteers can provide invaluable feed-   increase the need for coordination, data
                     back on the effectiveness of the training,    management, and analysis at the project's












central office. It may require additional staff      Here are some hints on getting media
or more of the principal staff person's time.        coverage:
Experienced volunteers may be recruited to           Metropolitan newspapers. Mass-circu-
assume tasks connected with the coordina-            lation dailies are not strong on commu-
tion of the ongoing project (including recruit-      nity news but they are always interested
ment of new volunteers) and summer interns           in good feature stories. If you know a
may be helpful, particularly for projects that       member of the newsroom staff, that's a
sample only in the summer months. It is              good place to start. If you don't have a
important to bear in mind that program               personalcontact, ask for the "news desk."
expansion brings with it the responsibility to       Present the monitoring program as a do-
maintain program continuation at the in-             it-yourself environmental project or offer
creased level. Volunteers are just that- vol-        another element of interest that may be
unteers. They can't always be relied upon to         the "hook" for a feature story. Large
carry the burden of program expansion.               papers use their own staff to write fea-
Contingency plans must be developed to               tures and take pictures, but they will
provide personnel backups.                           need basic background information, other
                                                     contacts, and promising locations for
3.3 MAKE THE MOST OF THE MEDIA                       photos.                                      Gasper River Water
                                                                                                  Watch Group after stream
    There's "news" in citizen monitoring.            Television news. The "news desk" is an       cleanup, Bowling Green,
These volunteer programs may not generate            appropriate contact at television stations,  Kentucky.
stories that play on page one or lead off the
evening news broadcast, but sponsoring                                         i 1 
organizations can still put the media to prac-               .  
tical use  in furthering   project goals.
    Publicity may be helpful in recruiting
volunteers needed to start or expand a moni- 
toring program. News or feature stories about
citizen monitoring also draw public attention
to water quality issues and help get across
the idea that environmental protection is                                      s i        by
everybody's job.
    It is not necessary to be a polished public
relations professional to be successful in
working with the media, but it is necessary to
take the initiative. Reporters are not likely to                                   Photo courtesy of Kentucky Water Watch Project
come looking for a story; a program spokes-
person probably will have to make the first          tthe visual side of the story as
move. That spokesperson may be either the            t      io ns  atua             ni  oa-
State coordinator or a dedicated volunteer.          tions, actual monitoring operations, ar-
    Before making the first move, it is impor-       ticulate volunteers to explain what they
tant to take a look at the media serving the         are doing. Be willing to make arrange-
community. News outlets will probably in-            m    en     t      s that fit the schedule of a camera
clude a large metropolitan daily newspaper,          crew.
smaller dailies, television stations, rural or       Smaller daily or weekly newspapers.
suburban weeklies and newsletters distrib-           Smaller papers, with fewer reporters, are
uted by companies or community groups.               more receptive to articles submitted by
These news organizations differ in their needs       community groups. Remember that local
and interests, but have many similarities,           papers want local news. Include as many
    No matter which news organization you            names as reasonable. Stress the "grass
are approaching, be prepared before you call         roots" elements of the monitoring proj-
or visit. Be able to provide concrete details        ect. Provide photographs if available.
about what citizen monitors do and where             Newsletters. Organizational or corpo-
they are doing it. Be able to supply volun-          rate newsletters can be the channel of
teers' names (be sure about the spelling) and        choice when you want to reach a specific
addresses. Ages and occupations can be of            audience with a specific message, i.e., to
interest, too. Have phone numbers handy in           entice additional volunteers into a moni-
case a reporter wants to follow up with other        toring program. Tell the newsletter editor
participants.                                        why his or her help is needed, and pro-





U          *IIII Eli       I  ll :* *    OII l






                                 vide the item you'd like printed. Keep it    or sections pertinent to their waterbody.
                                 short unless the editor invites a longer       3. Prepare a regular newsletter. Volun-
                                 submission. Include a name and phone       teers need to be contacted regularly, so it is
                                 number where readers can call for more     better to prepare an informal newsletter that
                                 information.                               can be sent out often, rather than a more time
                                                                            consuming, slick publication. The newsletter
                             3.4 MAINTAIN VOLUNTEER INTEREST AND            should contain information on new or changed
                             MOTIVATION                                     sampling techniques, articles on the ecology
                                 Once good volunteers are recruited and     of the study area, and particularly interesting
                             trained, the program manager must work         interim results. The volunteers should be
                             hard to keep the volunteers interested and     encouraged to submit articles, and can be
                             enthusiastic about their sampling efforts. An  recruited for editing and layout.
                             example provided by the Kentucky Water             4. Be easily accessible for questions and
                             Watch illustrates this point.                  requests. Give volunteers a phone number
                                 In a 1986 pilot study, the Kentucky        where they can always leave a message (use
                             program compared the performance of two        the State "Hot-line" if one exists, or install an
                             groups, one which had actively requested       answering machine on a local line). Respond
                             monitoring duties and one which had been       to calls promptly: provide volunteers with the
                             asked to participate. The groups were pro-     information they request. Do not give the
                             vided with varying levels of support based on  volunteers the bureaucratic run-around
                             their initial interest in monitoring. The group  ("Who you really need to talk to is .....").
                             that had requested monitoring duties re-           5. Provide volunteers with educational
                             ceived little contact following training, lost  opportunities. Be available to speak at civic
                             interest rapidly, and did not submit data. In  organizations when requested. Provide vol-
                             contrast, the group that had been recruited    unteers with meetings and regular work-
                             was telephoned at least once each month to      shops where guest speakers can explain
                             acknowledge receipt of sampling results and    environmental sampling techniques or pro-
                             to discuss the data; this goup submitted data  vide information on environmental policies
                             for ten of the twelve sampling periods.        pertinent to the sampling effort. Potluck
                                 Successful monitoring programs devote      dinners and picnics are nice ways to get
                             significant resources to activities designed to  volunteers to meet and interact with each
                             motivate their volunteers. For example:        other.
                                 1. Send volunteers regular data reports.       6. Keep the local media informed of the
                             Data received from volunteers should be        goals and findings of the monitoring effort.
                             reviewed and entered into a data base as       Prepare news releases covering major pro-
                             quickly as possible. At least twice a year,    gram activities such as annual meetings,
                             volunteers should be sent data summaries        annual training retreats, or the expansion of
                             and time series plots showing their data and   the program to a new watershed. Encourage
                             data collected by nearby volunteers. The data  media coverage of all activities but be sure to
                             should be checked for errors and volunteers    keep the tone of the articles upbeat and
                             should provide the manager with informa-       positive. The media provide visibility for re-
                             tion on missing data points or misrepre-       cruiting new volunteers and lobbying for
                             sented data.                                   increased funding.  Volunteers also like to
                                 2. Keep volunteers informed about all      see their efforts appreciated by the local com-
                             uses of their data. Volunteers should know     munity.
                             ahead of time how their data will be used. If      7. Recognize the volunteers' efforts. Define
                             they are contributing to a long-term data      the most appropriate recognition techniques
                             base, prepare annual data summaries show-       for your volunteers and your program. Some
                             ing the current condition of the waterbody     programs provide volunteers with awards for
                             compared to its previous condition. If the     continued dedication to the sampling effort,
                             data are used for acute problem identifica-    while other programs find that awards and
                             tion, send the volunteers information on areas  souvenirs are not appropriate to their
                             where problems have been found. Explain        participants.
                             how the volunteer data helped identify the         8. Provide volunteers opportunities to
                             water quality issue. If the data are being used  "grow" with the program through additional
                             to supplement the State 305(b) report (as, for    training, learning opportunities, and chang-
                             example, in Rhode Island, Minnesota and I1-    ing responsibilities.
                             linois), send volunteers copies of the report,



















































                                                                                                                                                                                                              51:
                                                                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    ~    ~    ~     ~    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~o
















Pil   ~ IIN
















                          ~~~~ . ~ ~ ~    ~     ~     ~     ~     w












 Despite the performance of many success-       sampling schemes, study designs, and ana-
ful volunteer monitoring programs, there is    lytical schemes to establish their relevance to
still some skepticism in the scientific and      the quality required by these users? How
technical community that volunteers can          have the needs of the data users been trans-
make positive contributions to environmental     lated into the study design in the broadest
data bases. An important element in over-        sense?"
coming this skepticism is to demonstrate             A general description of the project should
that volunteer monitors can provide credible     be provided in this section, including the
information.                                     experimental design. Describe exactly what
   To ensure that credible data are collected    will be sampled with an explanation of how
and used, it is necessary that data be quality   the decision was made. Site locations should
assured and adequately documented. This          be identified by latitude and longitude. It may
chapter provides "how-to" information for        be difficult to predetermine site locations
preparing a Quality Assurance Project Plan       until all volunteers are recruited. In that
(QAPjP) and for providing data documenta-        case, state any site selection criteria that will
tion. A QAPjP states the program objectives,     be used and explain the general type of site
organization, monitoring procedures, and         that will be sought.
specific quality assurance and quality control   4. Project Organization and Responsibil-
activities designed to achieve the data quality  ity . State the identified structure or organi-
goals of the program.                            zation responsible for the implementation of
    A Data Documentation Form should be          the program. A flow chart may be helpful
filed with the data base. This form provides     here. Identify individuals responsible for the
details about why, where, how and under          following as appropriate to the project's stated
what circumstances the data were collected.      objectives:
Elements that should be included in such a           * Overall QA/QC
form are discussed in Section 4.2.
    This chapter also includes a discussion          * Sampling and sampling QC
of data analysis and presentation methods            * Analytical work and analytical QC
that have been successfully used by existing         * Data processing and data processing
volunteer monitoring programs.                         QC
                                                     * Data review
4.1 PREPARE A  QUALITY ASSURANCE                     * Program reviews
PROJECT PLAN                                         Determine what qualifications are re-
    Careful thought given to preparing and       quired for participants, if any, and what
implementing a thorough Quality Assurance        provisions will be made for initial and routine
Project Plan (QAPjP) will ensure that quality    training
data are provided by the volunteer monitor-
ing program. The QAPjP format includes 16        5. QA Objectives. For each major measure-
elements, discussed below. If a particular       ment parameter, list the QA objectives (de-
element is not relevant to the project, a brief    rived from the Data Quality Objectives) for
explanation of why it is not relevant should be  precision, accuracy, representativeness, com-
included. (For detailed guidance on QAPJP        pleteness, and comparability. The program
preparation, refer to USEPA 1980b and USEPA      should be set up to produce data that are "in
1988.)                                          control" and "of known quality," i.e. data for
                                                 which the accuracy, bias and precision have
1. Title Page. The title page should include     been determined.
names of the project officer, the immediate                 objectives       summarized
supervisor, the funding organization and         a table as shown in Table 4-1.
anyone else who has major responsibility for
the project.                                     6. Sampling Procedures. Decide which
                                                 parameters can be monitored by volunteers.
2. Table of Contents is a listing of the in-     Existing programs have   monstrated that
                                                 Existing programs have demonstrated that
                                                 most parameters, including those requiring
3. Project Description. The purpose of the       complicated sampling procedures, can be
project should be clearly stated. This identi-   accurately monitored by volunteers if the
fled purpose, which sets the pace for all that   recruitment process targets citizens with the
follows, should address questions such as:       appropriate level of expertise (see New York
"Will these data be used and, if so, by whom?    program profile in the Appendix). The overall
Have the data users evaluated the proposed       program goal will determine whether














                                           ...............; ..  L _-mTABLE 4.1 ....

                                             PRECISION AND ACCURACY OBJECTIVES
 PARAMETER        METHODI/RANGE    UNITS             SENSITIVITY*     PRECISION        ACCURACY          CALIBRATION

 Temperature      Thermometer      0C                0.5C              1.0              +0.5             with NBS Certified
                   -5.0ï¿½ to +45ï¿½                                                                          Thermometers

 pH               Color Comparator   Standard                                                            Orion Field
                   Wide-Range       pH units         0.5 units          0.6             A0.4              pH Meter
                   Narrow-Range                      0.1               ?**              ï¿½0.2             Beckman
                                                                                                            pH Meter


 Salinity         Hydrometer       parts per         0.1 0/00         +1.0              +0.82            Certified Salinity
                                     thousand 0/00                                                        Hydrometer Set


 Dissolved        Micro Winkler    mg/I              0.1 mg/l         ï¿½0.9              ï¿½0.3***          Standard
 Oxygen           Titration                                                                              Winkler & Y.S.I. DO
                                                                                                            Meter


 Limit of         Secchi           meters            0.05m            NA               NA                NA
 Visibility       Disk Depth

  Note: The criteria used to judge completeness of data are addressed in Section 5.
  *Determined by the increments measurable with the stated method reflecting estimation where allowed.
  **Lack of sufficient data at present.
                                                                                                       Source: Chesapeake Bay Citizen
  *Paired t analysis (.=0.05, 3 d.f.) of the standard deviation of the mean difference between 4 paired determinations.  Monitoring Program


parameters that can be measured accurately              b. Procedures and forms for recording           TABLE 4.1
and  precisely  are  favored  over  less                the exact location and specific consid-
sophisticated  parameters  that can be                  erations associated with sample acquisi-       Objectives. A volunteer
monitored by a larger constituency of                   tion.                                           monitoring program
volunteers. Consider the level of expertise             c. Documentation of specific sample pres-       should be set up to
needed to perform sampling, the time                    ervation methproduce data that are
requirements, cost of sampling equipment,                                                               of known quality and
                                                         d, Pre-prepared sample labels contain-         for which the accuracy,
and the level of public interest associated ing all infoation necessary for effective bias, and precision have
                                                         ing all information necessary for effective    bias, and precision have
with a parameter. In general, it is better totracking.                                                  been determined. This
start with parameters that require simple                                                              table shows an example
monitoring procedures. After successful                 e. Standardized field tracking reporting       of the quality assurance
completion of a sampling season, experienced            forms to establish sample custody in the        objectives determined for
volunteers can be trained to carry out more             field prior to shipment or delivery.            monitoring program.
complex tests. This also helps maintain             B. Laboratory Operations including:
volunteer interest.                                     a. Identification of who will be sample
7. Sample Custody. Sample custody is a                  custodian at the laboratory facility and
critical part of any good laboratory or field op-       will be authorized to sign for incoming
eration. Where samples may be needed for                field samples.
legal purposes, "chain-of-custody" procedures           b. Provision for a laboratory sample cus-
must be used. As a minimum, the following               tody log consisting of serially numbered
sample custody procedures should be ad-                 standard lab-tracking report sheets.
dressed in QA planning:                                 c. Specification of laboratory sample
A. Field Sampling Operations including:                 custody procedures for sample handling,
    a. Documentation  of procedures for                 storage, and dispersal for analysis.
    preparation of reagents or supplies that       8. Calibration Procedures and Frequency
    become an integral part of the sample          Test all proposed procedures and sampling
    (i.e., filters and absorbing reagents).        protocols in the field. Determine the accuracy












                 and precision of monitoring equipment and     lab; which days of the week to sample (to
                 protocol by comparing the results obtained    enable the samples to arrive at the lab before
                 with volunteer equipment to the data gener-    ice packs lose their effectiveness); and labo-
                 ated by standard laboratory equipment. De-    ratory procedures for labeling and storing
                 termine what calibration needs to be done on  samples, and for recording data. Existing
                 the lab and field equipment. Maintain log    programs (New York and Illinois) provide
                 books or data sheets of calibration activities.    volunteers with pre-labeled sample vials
                 Keep a good record of equipment mainte-       containing preservatives and rely upon ice
                 nance and repairs. State what standards or    packs to refrigerate samples in the mail dur-
                 reference materials will be used in the project's    ing transport to the lab. Laboratory analysis
                 quality control program.                      procedures should follow standard, EPA-
                                                                 approved methodologies such as Standard
                 9. Analytical Procedures. Be sure to docu     Methods for Water and Wastewater 7Teat-
                 ment any analytical procedures. Describe the  ment (APHA AWWA & WPCF 1985) or Hand-
                 chemistry of non-standard methods used
                  chemistry of non-standard methods used        book for Analytical Quality Control in Water
                  and reference the method number and book      andWastewaterLaboratories (USEPA 1979).
                                                                 and WastewaterLaboratories (USEPA 1979).
                  for accepted standard methods used.
                      If samples are sent to a State laboratory  10. Data Reduction, Validation, and
                  for analysis, a processing protocol must be   Reporting. This element addresses the ac-
                  designed to avoid contamination and delays    tivities involved in an overall data manage-
                  which could alter laboratory results. The     ment plan.
                  protocol should specify how samples will be       Prepare standard data sheets that can be
                  preserved and packaged for transport to the    folded into thirds and mailed without an
                                                                 envelope, or on self-addressed post cards.
The following data management recommendations were              Include the mailing address of the program
made by Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program staff        coordinator on the data sheet, and decide if
based on seven years of experience refiningtheir data man-      the data should be mailed into the central
agement system:                                                 office as soon as it is collected, or all together
                                                                 at the end of the sampling season. Proce-
    * Organize data by waterbody identification numbers as-     dures for logging-in the data as it arrives at
signed for 305(b) assessments rather than by inconsistent lake  the central office must also be developed, so
names.                                                          that delinquent volunteers can be identified
                                                                 and contacted to improve performance.
    * Avoid the use of separate data coding procedures by de-       Data management software must be
veloping PC software with data entry screens similarto the data  installed and tested prior to program
forms submitted by volunteers.                                  implementation to avoid the time-consuming
                                                                 process of switching from a manual to a
    * Enter the data into a PC system with editing capabilities  computerized data management system. The
to facilitate corrections.                                      software should be capable of performing the
                                                                 selected statistical analyses, and of producing
    * Develop a program to upload the data from the PC file     graphs, charts, and tables to ease report
into STORET. Within STORET, statistical analysis can be per-    writing and reduce staff workloads. Most
formed with packages such as SAS (Statistic  Analysis Sys-      State-managedvolunteerprograms use some
tern).                                                          type of spreadsheet (e.g.Lotus) or a data base
                                                                 manager (e.g. dBASE) to store and manipulate
    * Store the data under a unique STORE  agency code to      their data.
distinguish the data collected byvluneers fro the data col-         When the coordinator (or other person
lected by STATE personnel.                                      responsible for data management) receives a
                                                                 data report from the volunteer monitor, the
    * Two phases to data verification are recommended. First,   data should be processed using procedures
the entered data must be checked against the volunteer data     developed and agreed upon during the plan-
sheets. Then the data should be plotted to detect outliers,     ning stages of the project. Critical steps in-
which often indicate recording errors such as reporting meis-   elude the following:
urements in incorrect units, orassigning a          to the          a. As soon as possible after receipt, screen
wrong sampling site. Volunteers should keep separate log        the data sheet thoroughly, checking for er-
sheets for reference to resolve questions about data.           rors in identification numbers, decimal place-
(Survey 1989, Bums)                                             ment, dates, time, units reported, illegible
                                                                 handwriting in comment section, etc. The












volunteer monitor should be contacted by
phone or letter to straighten out any prob-
lems noted at this point while the information
is still fresh in his or her mind. The volunteer
monitor should be contacted if there are data
gaps or if scheduled sampling times appear
to have been missed. Every attempt should
be made to screen out inaccurate data before
they are entered into the computer data base.
This step will also help the coordinator keep
track of volunteer participation.
    b. Submit the edited forms for data entry.
    c. Carry out data verification on the com-
puterized data. Data should be printed out in
list form and in plots. The list should be
checked against the original data sheets;
plots should be examined for outliers so that
simple recording mistakes (such as assign-
ing data to the incorrect sampling site, re-
porting incorrect units, or improperly placing
decimals) can be identified.
    d. Submit corrections to data entry staff.
After corrections are entered, a second ex-
amination should be made to verify that
corrections were completed.
    e. Declare the data to be "clean" or veri-
fled and transmit to the data user, EPA's
water quality information system (STORET),
or other designated data base. Large com-
puter data sets can be run through range                                                          Photo by John Bildahl
checks to help identify inaccuracies and           Ways to assure the quality of the data set  Quality Control is an
anomalies that should be checked against       include running duplicate samples, sending       important part of all



data are values that are simply not believ-    ter.                                            twice a year to compare
able, such as a salinity recording of 322.0                                                    techniques and results.
parts per thousand or a water temperature of    12. Performance and System Audits. A
209.0 degrees C.                               systems audit consists of an evaluation of all
    Anomalies, on the other hand, are true      components of the measurement system-
data which depart from the "typical" and       the equipment, personnel, and procedures-
therefore fall outside acceptable limits of    to determine their proper selection and use.
defined range checks. In some cases, the       Such an audit includes a careful evaluation
anomaly may be understood in combination       of both field and laboratory quality control
with data recorded in another data set. Ex-     procedures. An audit should be performed
amples of anomalous data are an extremely       prior to or shortly after the project begins and
high concentration of dissolved oxygen in       periodically thereafter during the lifetime of
warm water during an algal bloom or an          the project. This should include a review of
atypical Secchi measurement due to floods or    the program as a whole and the work of the
heavy rains (USEPA 1989].                       individuals performing the sample collection
                                                 and analysis.
11. Internal Quality Control Checks. The           These activities are basically the same as
approach to quality control will depend on      the internal QC checks detailed in the previ-
the type of project and parameters being        ous section. It is a good idea to bring in an
tested. A variety of QC activities can be       outside auditor (this might be the EPA Re-
carried out at retraining and QC sessions.     gional Quality Assurance Officer (QAO) or
(Refer to Chapter 3, "Conduct Ongoing Qual-    state QAO) at least once a year to take a fresh
ity Control."]                                 look at your QC protocol and performance.












                     13. Preventive Maintenance. The following      15. Corrective Action. Corrective action
                     types of preventive maintenance items should   procedures include the following elements:
                     be addressed in a QA plan:                         a. the predetermined limits for data ac-
                         a. a schedule of important preventive          ceptability beyond which corrective ac-
                         maintenance tasks that must be carried         tion is required.
                         out to minimize gaps in the data. This         b. procedures for corrective action (i.e.,
                         might include backup monitors when             decision to throw out data, definition of
Trustom Pond is one      people are ill or on vacation.                  outliers).
of several ecologically                                                 outlers).
fragile salt ponds found  b. the supplntity of the individual responsible
along Rhode Island's     to be kept on hand with a schedule for          for initiating the corrective action and
southern coast.          issuing fresh chemicals periodically.           then approving it.
                         c. assignment of an assistant (who can
                                    c. assignment of an assistant (who can  16. Quality Assurance Reports. The QAPjP
                         be a volunteer) to contact monitors who           should provide a mechanism for periodic
                         do not submit data sheets on time.         should provide a mechanism for periodic
                                                                    reporting to the data user, and the
                                                                    individual(s) responsible for preparing these
                                                                    reports should be identified. As a minimum,
                                                                    these reports should include:
                                                                        a. periodic assessment of data accuracy,
                                                                        precision, and completeness.
                                                                        b. results of any QC sessions and audits.
                                                                        c. significant QA problems and recom-
                                                                        mended solutions.
                                                                        In summary, quality assurance and
                                                                    quality control should be a continuous proc-
                                                                    ess implemented throughout the entire
                                                                    monitoring program. As with any scientific
                                                                    endeavor, quality must be assured before the
                                                                    results can be accepted. Quality assurance is
                                                                    accomplished through establishment of thor-
                                                                    ough participant training, protocol guide-
                                                                    lines, comprehensive field and lab data docu-
                                                                    mentation and management, verification of
                                                                    data reproducibility, and instrument calibra-
                                                                    tion.

                                                                    4.2 PREPARE A DATA DOCUMENTATION
                                                                    FILE
                                                                        Careful and thorough documentation of
                                                                    the data base ensures that it can be used with
                                                                    confidence and is especially critical for vol-
                                                                    unteer monitoring programs. Any water
                                                                    quality data collected by volunteers may be
                                                                    used by a State in its surface water assess-
                                                                    ment reports to USEPA. Therefore, the codes
                                                                    used in data entry and storage should be
                                                                    compatible with those used in STORET or in
                                                                    other relevant data sets. Data that will be
Photo by Jon Boothroyd                                               entered into a State (or other formal) data
                     14. Specific Routine Procedures Used To        base should be accompanied by appropriate
                     Assess Data Precision, Accuracy, and Com-       documentation.
                     pleteness.  The routine procedures used            Elements that should be included in a
                     should be included in the QA Plan. These       data documentation file include:
                     procedures should include the equations to         a. Data set name, project title, name(s) of
                     calculate precision and accuracy and the           the individual(s) responsible for the data
                     methods used to carry out any calibration          collection, name of collecting organiza-
                     and comparability studies.                         tion, and program sponsor.












   b. A statement of the purpose of the data        Data analysis and reporting need not be
   collection and, when available, the re-      overly sophisticated. In fact, selecting a level
   suits and conclusions. This element can      of interpretation appropriate to the problem
   be designed to capture all other docu-       at hand is a sign of good management. The
   mentation that cannot be placed in other     ideas below are presented at increasing levels
   fields, such as key equations used to        of sophistication and are intended to give an
   generate reported values.                    overview of the ways data collected by volun-
   c. A description of the type of observation  teers have been and are being analyzed.
   stations (buoy, pier, shore, boat) includ-       The monitoring objectives established at
   ing the number of stations or sites and      the outset of a volunteer program will deter-
   number of observations.                      mine the types of data analysis that should
   d. Period of record (year/month/day)         be performed. Thorough analysis of the col-
   and hour (if applicable) of first and last   lected data requires staff time and resources,
   observation. Length of record showing        and should always be included in the initial
   any breaks in the records of data col-       program planning. Remember that volun-
   lected over a period of time. If significant,  teers need to see their data being used. A
                                                volunteer program will only succeed if the
   specify when variables were added or
   dropped.                                     data are evaluated, interpreted, and relayed
                                                back to the citizen volunteers.
   e. A list of geographic place names, geo-        Since many volunteer programs are
   graphic codes (Eco-Region codes, USGS,       designed to collect long-term, baseline water
   Hydrologic unit codes, STORET codes,         quality information, in-depth interpretation
   State codes). Include the latitude/longi-    of the data must wait until the program has
   tude coordinates of the study and the        been active for several years. However, each
   station names, identification number,        year's data should be plotted, reviewed, and
   and description of location and grid loca-   discussed for the benefit of the volunteers.
   tors of individual sites/stations.               State volunteer program managers must
   f. The sampling schedule for data col-       be prepared to present data to both in-house
   lected with regular periodicity.             technical staff and non-technical volunteers.
   g. A list of the water quality indicators/   The two audiences require very different
   parameters, the methods used to meas-        presentation styles.
   ure them and their USEPA method iden-            The purpose of this section is to intro-
   tification codes. This should be followed    duce new volunteer program managers to
   by a description of the method. Be sure to   effective data presentation techniques di-
    include units of measurement and detec-      rected at the lay volunteers. Examples of
    tion limits. Include information on preci-   these techniques, drawn from existing volun-
    sion, accuracy, and replicate sampling, if    teer programs, are discussed below.
    available.
    h. Any special quality assurance and         Maps
    quality control procedures used during           It is always useful to develop maps of the
    data collection, analysis, and/or key-       watersheds and waterbodies included in your
    punching (USEPA 1989).                       sampling program. The maps can be copies of
                                                USGS, State, or county maps, or can be
4.3 ANALYZE AND PRESENT DATA                     drawn by hand. The maps should display the
    It is essential that volunteer monitoring    physical characteristics of the waterbody (and
program managers include provision for data      watershed, in some cases) and should be
analysis and reporting in their initial project  kept up to date with the location of sampling
planning. Enough staff time must be com-         stations. Include stations sampled by other
mitted in advance to carry out these impor-      groups and agencies as well as the stations
tant elements of the overall program, avoid-     managed by the volunteer program. Stations
ing the "let's just get the data now and figure  should be numbered and clearly defined on
out how to analyze it later" attitude. It is also  the map or in a separate index.
important to ensure that any information             These maps will be used throughout the
released to the public is absolutely accurate,   monitoring effort. They will help the coordi-
especially where a State-administered pro-       nator locate new sampling sites, and can be
gram is involved. Misinformation and invalid     used in publications summarizing the re-
data interpretation can be very damaging to      suits of the sampling program. Maps also aid
the program.                                     the person responsible for analyzing the col-













Figure 4.1

Maps showing the                                                        Rhode Island Salt Pond Watchers Program
location of water                                                                  Point Judith Pond
chemistry and bacteria
collection stations on                          if                                                                            ! .I
Point Judith Pond,
Rhode Island Salt Pond CT': :
Watchers Volunteer Point . J
Monitoring Program.







                                                                           Atlantic Ocean



                                                                          Point Judith Pond












                                              ï¿½   Water Chemistry Statio n
                                             A Bacteria Station









                                                                                        quality.  the State's southern shore. (Further details














                                   In 1985,  the Universi ty  of Rhode Island              of this program are in Chapter 1.) Figure 4.1
                                     characteristic t                                  at ma nlecewtrgoskona    al   odwici ln














ing sampling stations for chemistry and bac-
teria in one of these ponds, Point Judith.                                                           FIGURE4.2
                                                                                        Ohio Stream QualitlyMonitoring Program
     Ohio's Department of Natural Resources.                                     ;     OhioStreamQua LittMe aryCrek SP tions
Division  of Natural  Areas  and  Preserves,
sponsors a stream monitoring program (see                                                                              B CAE: :
                                                                                                                         BIG DARBY CREEK
Appendix)  using volunteers  to collect and                                                                             2.7 Sierra Club. Cent Oio Chap.,
analyze macroinvertebrate populations col-                                                                                 Columbus udubn Society
                                                                                                                         3.7 SierraClub, Cent. OhioChap.
lected with  a simplified  "kick seine" tech-                                                                          17.5 SierraClub,Cent.OhioChap
nique. Maps are effectively used (see Figure                                                    '       5C a           20.3 ODNR (ONAP
4.2) in the program's annual reports to dis-                                            UniOn-.                        21650DNR(DNAP)
                                                                                         Madison CO,                    26.9 GroveCitySr. Citizens;OurLadyof
play the location of sites sampled  by both                              ,                                                 Perpe tua  Help Schoole Timberlakers
volunteers and the State.                                                                                              31.1 Hiliard Elementary; GrveCiyH.S.;
                                                                                                                            BatellelDarby MstroPark
                                                                                                        4 3.4           32.0 Wesoland HS.; Balelie-Darby Metropark
Graphs                                                                                                                 360 ODNR DNAP)
     Most successful volunteer programs find                                                                   37.8   37.8 GSA-Carp Keneckely
                                                                                                                        43.4 Hitliard High School
that simple graphs showing the variation of                                                            6        36.0   55.6 MarysHilleHighSchool
measured water quality parameters over time                                                             3.7   320
and space are informative and easy for the                                                                         31.1
citizen volunteers to interpret. Graphs also
                                                                               UiEDARSï¿½CREEK          2      i       2$.9
help the volunteer program manager verify                                     3.7  CeAtR hiEAngler   Hurs Club
the incoming data, and often suggest meth-                        '             '2etersoioHighSchoo -- ' --                  Franklin Co.
ods for a more thorough analysis.                                              .1 -WeaffennnghSch o  2165    203 PickawayCo.
     Volunteer lake monitoring program re-                                    14 1NR )                                   175
ports often summarize Secchi depth data in
plots using a graphic disk as illustrated in                                                              i
Figure 4.3. Plots provide a quick view of the
variation of Secchi depth over the sampling                                                                                          27
period and are easily understood by technical
as well as non-technical audiences.
     River monitoring  data  can  be visually
interpreted using graphs showing water

               --M'| VI "-ï¿½ "W ii ?? -Ef"F~.ï¿½R'Wï¿½~ ~- i;;- -- - 'B"-Z''& 9`'  R  i-  a   t                                      FIGURE 4.2
                                                        FIRGURE4.3
                                       Wisconsin Self-Help Lake Monitoring Program                                              Ohio Stream Quality
                                                 Devil's Lake-Sauk County                                                        Monitoring Stations on
                                                  Secchi Disk Depth-1986                                                        Big Darby Creek and
         0                                                                                                                      Little Darby Creek.
                                                                                       II-:-~~~~~~~~ -                             ~~~~Location of stations
                                                                                                                                 sampled by volunteers
                                                                                                                                 and State employees
                                                                                                                                 are shown.
       i 10B~ t                                                        II -         _ _ _      _                       :        SOURCE: Lewis and
           -,=Eï¿½3,igit65d  tII;dd;E;2;ï¿½    _                           . _   _            _                                     Kopec  1986.

~:" s  g - 'i-                                                     -          --"-








                                                                                                                                 for Devil's Lake, Sauk
                                                                                                                                 County, Wisconsin.
                                                                                                                                 Wisconsin Self-Help Lake
                                                                                                                              Monitoring Program.
                                                                                                                                 Graphic presentation
                                                 IC_- WRM~~~~g ~~~w 9~ CMAY~ ~ JUN's~~~  _NJUL~~ Ig~ qof the Secchi disk data
                                                   J  1            UG N SEP    I OCT    I NV                  Idepicts a disk being
                                                                                                                                  lowered into the water
                                                           Date                                                                 column.
                                                                                                                                  SOURCE: Rumery 1987.













                               FIGURE 4A4                                       quality on the y-axis and river miles on the x-
             Kentucky Water Watch Stream Monitoring Program                      axis. If the river is affected by pollution, these
                            Pond Creek Basin                                    plots often suggest where the impact is oc-
                           pH on 30 August 1987                                 curring and show whether the river is recov-
  10                                                                             ering. The  plots also allow volunteers to
                                    9 POOR RANGE]                               examine how their data relate to other data
                                                                               collected by the program. Figure 4.4 shows
   8-                                                                            pH data collected by Kentucky's Water Watch
                                     GOOD RANGE                                 volunteers in the Pond Creek Basin (Cooke
                                                                    7 -        1988). The graph effectively displays the vari-
                                                                               ation of pH along the creek, clearly displaying
  ï¿½6
                                                                               the zone of degradation.

   4-                                                                            Charts
                                                                                    Bar charts can  be used to display the
                                                      [                        spatial or temporal changes in data. Volun-
                                                                               teers for Michigan's Tip of the Mitt Watershed
   2-                                   PO Council Volunteer Lake Monitoring program
                                                                               measure Secchi disk depth and take samples
                                                                               for chlorophyll analysis throughout the
                                                                               summer. These data are used to calculate an
   SITE 1     SITE 2     SITE 3    [ SITE 4 [    SITE 5     SITE 6    SITE 7      average trophic state number for each lake. A
                 UPSTREAM                                 DOWNSTREAM            bar chart is used in the program's  1986
                                                                               Water Quality Report to summarize the vari-

FIGURE 4.4

pH of water at seven sites
in the Pond Creek Basin
sampled on 30 August                                                      FGR  .
1987abymvoluntees on 3sth                                Michigan Inland Lake Self-Help Program and Tip of the
Kentucky volnteersn atche                             Mitt Watershed Council's Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program
KentuckyWam tering                    WatTrophic Status Index of Crooked Lake
Stream Monitoring
Program.
SOURCE: Cooke 1988.                   55


                                                                -e                                       Eutrophic
                                     50-


                                E   45-


                                     40-
                                                                                                        Mesotrophic
                                C/)
                                CL  35-
                                0a.

FIGURE 4.5
                                     30-
Trophic Status Index of
Crooked Lake in northern
Michigan from 1974 to25-                                                                                   Oligotrophic
1986. Data was collected
by volunteers participating    74                 77   78  79   80  81  82   83   84   85   86
in the Inland Lake Sell-
Help Program, Michigan                                                       Year
Department of Natural
Resources and the Tip of
the Mitt Watershed
Council's Volunteer Lake
Monitoring Program.
SOURCE: McLennon 1986.












                                                                                                         FIGURE 4.6
                                          FIGURE 4.6                                                   Charts show the
                           Kentucky Water Watch Stream Monitoring Program                              expenses by category
                                   PROJECT EXPENSE BUDGET                                              and the funding sources
                                                                                                         for the Kentucky Water
                                         Printing                                                      Watch Stream Monitoring
                          TelephonelOffice $1,000                                                     Program.
                             Overhead                                                                  SOURCE: Cooke 1988.
                              $2,000
                                                              Testing Equipment
                                                                   $6,500











               Salary Allocation
                   $8,000
                                                               Travel
                                            TOTAL            $2,500
                                            $20,000



                                   PROJECT FUNDS BY SOURCE
                                       Private


                                                                 106 G. Federal
                                                               Public Participation




             State Funds










                                                  205 J Federal
                                               Water Quality Planning



ation in trophic state over time (Figure 4.5).     ences. The Illinois Lakes Lay Monitoring
    Pie charts are easy to construct, and          program manager uses volunteer-collected
effectively summarize information about the        Secchi depth data to calculate Trophic State
volunteer monitoring program. Pie charts           Indices (TSI), and has effectively summa-
have been used by Kentucky's Water Watch           rized that data using a pie chart (Figure 4.7).
program to summarize funding sources and
project expenditures (Figure 4.6). The charts      Box Plots
are simple and easy to interpret and are               Although not currently used by any vol-
suitable for both technical and lay audi-          unteer programs that were reviewed for this












                                 FIGURE4.7                                          document,  the box plot can summarize  a
                      Illinois Lakes Lay Monitoring Program                          large amount of information about a set of
                   Trophic State Indices of Illinois Lakes in 1986                   data and is becoming a professional standard
                                                                                   for describing data. The box plot can be
                                                                                   useful for technical audiences interested in
                  70 and above                                                       interpreting the data but can also be readily
                    0(8.9%lllkk) Agoexplained to a lay person [Tukey (1977) and
                                                                                   McGill, et al. (1978)1. The box plot (see Fig.
                                                                                   4.8) is constructed from the order statistics,
                                                                                   and visually displays the data's median, vari-
                                                       50 to <60                   ability, and skew. It also provides informa-
                                                        (31.5%)                    tion on  the size of the data set and  the
                                                                                   statistical significance of differences between
               60to<70                                                               medians.  The  box  plot is an  informative
                (38.50/,)
                                                                                   method for graphical presentation and com-
                                                                                   parison of one or more sets of data on the
                                                                                   same variable.
FIGURE 4.7                                                            N

Trophic State Indices for         The steps below, described in Reckhow and Chapia (1983), may be followed to construct a box plot for a
Summary of trophic state    set of data on a single variable:
indices was based on             1. Order the data from the lowest to highest.
Secchi depth data                2. Plot the lowest and highest values on the graph as short horizontal lines. These are the extreme values
collected by volunteers            of the data set and represent the data range.
participating in the
Illinois Volunteer Lake          3. Determine the 75 percent value (upper quartile) and 25 percent value (lower quartile) of the data set.
Monitoring Program.                These values define the interquartile range and represent the location of the top and bottom lines of
SOURCE: Hawes 1987.                the box. Using vertical lines, connect the highest value with the upper quartile and the lowest value
                                  with the lower quartile.
                                4. Plot the median as a dashed horizontal line within the  box.
                                5. Select a scale so the width of the boxrepresents the sample size, or the size of thedata set used to
                                   construct each box. For example, the box width that describes a data set of 20 values an be displayed
                                  twice as wide as a data set of 10 values Alternatively,the   ay  be set as proportional to the
                                   square root of the sample size. (Any proportional scheme can be used as long as it is consistently
                                   applied.
                                6. Determine the height of the notch (in the box at the median) based on the statistical significance of the
                                   median:


                                                         where lupper quartilelower quartile  

                                With this mathematical definition of the      heights, the not     in the  provides an approximate 95%
                                confidence interval for comparison of box medians. Therefore, when  the nothes for any two boxes
                                overlap in a vertical sense, these medians areot signifi cantlydifferent at about the 95% level.

                                                                      ï¿½~ ~   ~_Maximum Value



FIGURE 4.8
Box Plot Construction.                                  -
These steps may be                                                               Upper Quartile
followed to construct a                              =    Notch        ]        Mdian                   Range
box plot for a set of data                                Height                                    iInterquartile
on a single variable.                                                                               l
Adapted from Reckhowower uartile
and Chapia 1983.                                                         _      Minimum Value
                                                                  n :0nsamplesiz~e00;;0t00                                    :      :





























Liii~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
















                                                      t~~~o





 I  l                 I I 






                              The experience of many State-managed         program areas in State sponsored programs:
                            volunteer monitoring programs has shown            ï¿½ Staff salaries and fringe benefits
                            that citizen monitoring is cost-effective but      * Office overhead, including phone us-
                            not free. It is a common misconception that          age, postage, and duplicating
                            citizen monitoring programs only require           * Travel expenses to train volunteers,
                            start-up funding and then become self-suffi-         perform quality assurance checks, and
                            cient. In fact, the withdrawal of funding after      promote the program
                            one or two years is the most commonly
                            reported reason for failure of volunteer proj-       broken equipment,  an d refilling chemi-
                            ects.                                                broken equipment, and refilling chemi-
                                                                                 cal supplies
                                Successful programs require staff dedi-
                            cated to ongoing efforts to motivate volun-        * Laboratory analysis
                            teers and ensure that data quality goals are       * Data management, including data en-
       Robertson measure the  met year in and year out. Prior to implement-       try, storage, and retrieval
       pH of the Mattaponi River  ing any volunteer monitoring program, States  ï¿½ Data analysis, including costs of statis-
       in Virginia.         should review and adjust program objectives           tical packages such as SAS
                                                                                ï¿½ Printing costs for annual reports and
                                                                                 newsletters
                                                                               ï¿½ Other activities, such as conferences
                                                                               Nine States with volunteer monitoring
                                                                           programs were surveyed to assess the real
                                                                            costs of these programs. The results are
                                                                            summarized in Table 5-1. Total program
                                                                            budgets range from $15,000 to $127,000
                                                                           with the majority of volunteer programs having
                                                                            annual budgets between $20,000 and
                                                                            $50,000.The broad range of budget estimates
                                                                            reflects differences in program scope, pa-
                                                                            i  rameter selection, and administrative needs.
                                                                            Since it is often difficult to separate expenses
                                                                            associated with a volunteer monitoring pro-
                                                                            gram from other State program expenses, the
                                                                            figures in Table 5-1 are "best guess" esti-
                                                                            mates. Each State surveyed also had a unique
                                                                            methodology for estimating costs. For ex-
                                                                            ample, Illinois explicitly includes overhead
                                                                            costs of 62% on staff salaries, while many
                                                                            programs do not include overhead costs and
                                                                            thus appear less expensive to operate. Keep-
       Photo by CynthiaDunn                                                 ing these limitations in mind, the budget
                            so they can be achieved with the available     estimates provide a range of potential pro-
                            resources.                                     gram costs.
                                This chapter outlines various categories       The following paragraphs address each
                            of expenses and the range of costs associated  of the cost categories outined in Table 5-1.
                            with different types of volunteer programs.
                            The chapter concludes with a discussion of      Staff Costs
                            options for funding a citizen monitoring pro-      Staff salaries are generally the single
                            gram and techniques for reducing program       most expensive item in volunteer monitoring
                            costs.                                         program budgets. At least one full-time coor-
                                                                            dinator is recommended to start a program,
                            5.1 PROGRAM EXPENSES                           and additional part-time personnel may be
                                A recent compilation of costs associated    required during the sampling. Additional staff
                            with citizen monitoring programs has been       costs, such as employee benefits and office
                            developed by the Chesapeake Bay Citizens       overhead, are often overlooked but should be
                            Monitoring Program (Ellett 1988). This com-    recognized. Staffing requirements vary de-
                            plete list of costs includes the following cate-  pending on the program size and the number
                            gories, many of which are "hidden" in other    and complexity of monitoring parameters






                                                                                    TABLE 5.1
             Number of        Number of   Sampling               CITIZEN MONITORING PROGRAM BUDGETS                                                Printing
             Monitored        Sampling      Frequency                                                                               Lab            and                          Other
State       Waterbodies'    Sites          (Duration)       Parameters            Total Costs2      Staff3         Equipment4       Analysis      Postage        Travel        Costss

IL          150 L            450           2/month          Secchi depth          $127,000*         $63,000        $4,000*          $20,000                                    $40,000
                                            (May-Oct)       (Nutrients &                            (2.3 FTE)                       (100 sites)
                                                             solids in
                                                            50 lakes)

KY          57 R             57            1/month          DO, pH,               20,000*           8,000          6,500                          1,000          2,500         2,000
                                            (All Year)      nutrients                               (0.33 FTE)

ME          215 L            215           2/month          Secchi disk           26,300            21,000         300              2,500         2,500
                                            (May-Sept)      (chl.a in                               (1 FTE)                         (5 sites)
                                                            5 lakes)

MIl         175 L             175          4/month          Secchi depth          15,000            8,000                                                                      7,000
                                            (May-Sept)                                              (0.33 FTE)

MN          350 L            350           41month          Secchl depth          44,000*           25,000         3,000                          7,000                        9,000
                                            (June-Sept)                                             (1 FTE)

NY          61 L             61            4/month          Secchi depth          125,000'          40,000         14,000           45,000        6,000                        20,000
                                            (June-Oct)      DO, pH, Chl.a,                          (1.5 FTE)
                                                            nutrients,
                                                            lake level,
                                                            color, rainfall,
                                                            conductivity,
                                                            macroinverte-
                                                            brates

OH          10 R              150          2-51year         Benthic               55,000            49,000*        2,000                                         10,000
                                            (Apr-Oct)       macroinverte-
                                                            brates

VT          71 L             137           4/month          Secchi depth          22,900            12,000         5,000            2,800                        3,100
                                            (June-Aug)      Chl-a, phos-
                                                            phorus

WI          170 L             170          2/month          Secchl depth          41,500            35,000         3,500                          3,000
                                            (May-Sept)                                              (1.5 FTE)


 Lakes are abbreviated with an "L"; rivers are abbreviated with an "R".

2 Total cost estimates that include overhead are indicated with an asterisk (*).

3 Asterisk-includes % time of central office and field OH Scenic River Program personnel who administer and assist the Stream Quality Monitoring Program, along with
 seasonal and part-time personnel.

4 One-time equipment costs are indicated with an asterisk (*), and not included in the total cost.

5Other costs include the balance of the total costs not accounted for in the various cost categories. Other costs include office overhead, staff benefits,
 conference costs, and cost categories, such as printing and travel expenditures, that could not be isolated from the overall annual budget.












that are selected. Obviously, small programs   metal or pesticide pollution in their water-
require less administration to coordinate      body, samples can be preserved for analysis
volunteers, and less clerical staff to enter   by the Laboratories at no additional cost.
data and type reports. Parameter selection         In some programs, the cost of test kits is
has a more subtle impact on staff needs. For   passed on to volunteers. One-third of the
example, programs that limit volunteer         participants in Kentucky's program purchase
monitoring to Secchi disk measurements often   their test kits, reducing the annual equip-
do not require hands-on training by profes-    ment costs from $9,405 to $6,500. In Ohio,
sional staff.                                  beyond the initial free provision of one or two
                                               nets and kits, participants often purchase
Equipment and Laboratory Expenses              additional equipment at $25 per set.
    Parameter selection determines equip-          Laboratory analysis of chemical parame-
ment and laboratory costs. Some parameters     ters is also expensive and includes additional
do not require laboratory analysis and the     costs for postage and chemicals required to
equipment needed to measure them is inex-      preserve samples. For example, the New York
pensive. For example, a Secchi disk can be     program spends approximately $40,000
purchased for approximately $20 or con-        annually for laboratory analyses of total
structed by the volunteers. Providing stan-    phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen, chlorophyll,
dardized disks to the volunteers ensures       color, alkalinity, pH, and conductivity on 53
quality control, saves time, and minimizes     lakes. Mailing the samples to the labs costs
volunteer frustration. However, several low-    an additional $100 per lake. The Illinois
budget programs do require the volunteers to   program adds $20,000 to their annual budget
construct their own disks or purchase the      for chemical analyses at 100 sites on 50
disks.                                         lakes. Thus, laboratory analysis costs alone
    Biological parameters, such as benthic     can exceed the total program budgets of
macroinvertebrates, can also be measured       many State citizen monitoring programs, and
with a minimal equipment cost. The equip-      can only be undertaken by well-funded pro-
ment required to monitor benthic macroin-      grams.
vertebrate communities in Ohio's Scenic
Rivers volunteer monitoring program includes   Data Management Costs
a four-by-four foot nylon mesh net, plastic        Computer facilities are often necessary
containers, hand lens, thermometer, and        to manage and analyze the data collected by
identification sheet. Equipment costs are      the volunteers, compare volunteer data with
further reduced by constructing the seine      other data bases such as STORET, and pre-
nets with defective hoe handles donated by a   pare reports. In addition to hardware and
local industry. Species identification is per-  software costs, the budget should include
formed onsite, thereby eliminating labora-     staff time to enter, review, edit, and analyze
tory expenses. Ohio's annual expenditures      data. These costs are difficult to assess be-
for equipment, used for replacing broken       cause most existing programs rely on support
equipment and constructing new nets, is    services within the State agency to perform
approximately $2,000.                          these tasks.
    In contrast, monitoring for chemical
parameters requires either relatively expen-   Printing and Postage Expenses
sive onsite test kits or laboratory analyses.      Several thousand dollars should be
Two test kits capable of sampling stream       budgeted for printing and mailing newslet-
chemistry for one year have been priced at     ters and annual reports which inform the
$165 and $295 (1988). The Kentucky citizen     volunteers and other State personnel about
monitoring program solicited bids from chemi-  the accomplishments of the program. Costs
cal testing companies and selected a test kit    will depend upon the size and format of the
that measures dissolved oxygen, nitrate-ni-    publications and their frequency. Other costs
trogen, ortho-phosphate, pH, and chlorides     associated with rewarding and educating
monthly, at an annual cost of $165 per kit.    volunteers may include organizing annual
The Delta Laboratories, Inc. offers a kit       conventions for citizen monitors and provid-
equipped to perform 50 repetitions of the      ing rewards such as plaques, hats, T-shirts,
above tests plus hardness, turbidity and       lapel pins, and certificates.
screening for heavy metals for $295 (Delta
Laboratories, Inc. 1987). If volunteers work-  Travel Expenses
ing with the Delta Laboratories kit suspect        Citizen monitoring personnel often travel













extensively during the sampling season to      expense estimate. The Illinois program also
train volunteers and perform quality control   includes chemical monitoring at 100 sites on
checks. The geographical size of the State,    50 lakes (at an annual cost of $20,000) and,
the number of staff and volunteers, and the    unlike the Michigan program, provides Sec-
emphasis placed upon personal contact with     chi disks to volunteers.
volunteers influence travel expenses. Ohio
spends about $4,000 annually on travel;        5.3 FUNDING OPTIONS
each group is trained onsite, and the pro-         There are three principal sources of
gram coordinator travels frequently to pro-     funding for State-managed volunteer moni-
mote the program. Other agencies report         toring programs: federal grants, State funds,
travel expenses between $2,000 and $3,000.      and private in-kind contributions. These       Volunteers keep records
                                               sources are also available to private groups.  on the types of debris
5.2 COMPARISON OF TWO STATE                    Each of these are discussed below.              found on the Texas coast.
PROGRAMS
    The Michigan Self-Help Lake Monitoring
program is a low-cost monitoring program
with an annual budget of $15,000. The pro-
gram has generated fourteen years worth of
Secchi disk data utilized by the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources to docu-
ment long-term lake quality trends and re-
sponses to lake management actions. Equip-      - 
ment costs, laboratory costs, and travel                              -
expenses are eliminated by limiting monitor-     .            -       :  -   
ing to Secchi disk depth and requiring the
volunteers to construct their own disks.
Staffing needs are reduced by restricting
training to written instructions and tele-
phone conversations. Costs are further mini-
mized by hiring a college student intern during
the summer to perform data entry, print                                   m       a
computer-generated reports, and send out
mailings. Of the staff time spent on the citizen
monitoring program annually (approximately
1/3 full time equivalent), half of the hours are
allocated to the student intern. The Michigan
Department of Natural Resources estimates
that duplicating volunteer monitoring efforts
using State employees would increase the
State's overall monitoring costs by about
$85,000 annually.
    In contrast, the Illinois Volunteer Lake                            n
Monitoring Program has an annual budget of                                    Photo courtesy of the Centerfor Marine Conservation
$127,000 and employs a large staff (totalling
2.3 FTE at a cost of about $63,000) to enhance  Federal Grants
personal contact between State personnel           States may use grant monies awarded
and volunteers. Illinois personnel individually  under Sections 104(b)(3) (Research Grants);
train volunteers, perform follow-up visits,     106 (Grants for Pollution Control Programs);
organize an annual conference, write           205(j) (Grants for Water QualityManagement
newsletters, prepare educational materials,     Planning); 314 (Clean Lakes Program); 319
provide technical assistance, and produce a     (Nonpoint Source Management Programs);
seven-volume annual report that includes        and 320(g) (National Estuary Program) of the
statistical analyses of volunteer data.        Water Quality Act of 1987 to initiate citizen
    Overhead costs, which include employee     monitoring programs. Some of these funds
benefits, travel expenses, office expenses,     may also be available to public or nonprofit
printing and postage, are estimated as a       private agencies and organizations.
percentage of staff costs. Therefore, the larger    Estuaries designated in the National
Illinois staff generates a larger overhead     Estuary Program (NEP) of the Water Quality












Act of 1987 are eligible for combined Federal   State agencies may also provide funding to
and State funds to support research and        private organizations to administer citizen
public participation projects that can include  monitoring programs. Delaware, for example,
volunteer monitoring. The Pamlico-Tar River     supports the Delaware Stream Watch Pro-
Foundation has been funded to develop such     gram by providing funds to the Delaware
a program under the Albemarle-Pamlico          Nature Society that originated from indus-
Estuarine Study in North Carolina.             trial fines.
    Federal funding for volunteer monitoring
programs on coastal waters can be routed to    Private Funding Sources
State universities from the National Oceano-        In some cases, individuals or organiza-
graphic and Atmospheric Administration          tions participating in a citizen monitoring
(NOAA) Sea Grant Program and the Coastal       program have successfully solicited funds,
Zone Management Program (CZMP). The            in-kind services, and equipment from private
Rhode Island Salt Pond Watchers and the        sources. Non-profit organizations can obtain
New Jersey Marine Recreational Program are     funding through dues and contributions from
examples of volunteer monitoring programs      corporate members. A group of Rhode Island
administered by State universities receiving   Salt Pond Watchers obtained a grant from
Sea Grant Extension Funds. The Chesap-          IBM to pay for the chemical analyses of water
eake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program is         samples. Other private contributions include
expanding its activities and exploring the     defective hoe handles donated from a local
feasibility of using volunteers to monitor     industry to the Ohio Scenic River Program to
nonpoint source pollution abatement efforts    construct seine nets, and boat auction regis-
with funding from NOAA CZMP.                    tration fees donated to the New Jersey pro-
    Unusual avenues to obtain Federal funds    gram by a boating association. In addition to
should not be overlooked, although they may    their donated time, most volunteers provide
be of only short-term value. For example, an    in-kind contributions of their boating equip-
Ohio Soil and Water Conservation District       ment and fuel, and many also purchase
secured funds to use for young people to       monitoring equipment, thereby reducing
collect water quality information using vol-   program equipment costs.
unteer monitoring program methods through          No individual source of funding is guar-
the Federal Job Partnership Training Act.      anteed to persist and sustain a volunteer
                                               monitoring program. Therefore, long-term
State Funding Sources                          program stability depends upon a diversity of
    General State revenues have been used      funding sources. Program planners should
to establish programs such as New York's       investigate all potential sources of funding
Statewide Lake Assessment Program. De-         and cost saving measures.
pending upon State laws, funding from gen-
eral State revenues may require approval        5.4 TECHNIQUES FOR REDUCING PRO-
from the State Legislature. This can delay     GRAM COSTS
program implementation, as was the case in         Most cost saving techniques involve
New York. However, the authorization of        reducing staff costs, the largest single pro-
general revenues in 1987 provided a man-       gram expense. Staff costs can be minimized
date to the New York Department of Environ-    by hiring summer college interns to assist
mental Conservation to set up a lay monitor-   program directors in writing reports, training
ing program and a position for a program       volunteers, and entering data. (Interns gen-
coordinator. General revenues may be sup-       erally receive a lower salary and are exempt
plemented with innovative State funding        from benefits.)
sources such as Wisconsin's tax on motor-          Volunteers themselves can sometimes
boat fuels and Ohio's State tax return check-   perform a variety of administrative tasks to
off for natural resources programs.             supplement State personnel. For example,
    State agencies or legislative bodies may   volunteers may be available to enter data,
distribute funds to local governments or       prepare statistical summaries, prepare graph-
agencies to implement volunteer monitoring     ics and articles for newsletters, or organize
programs. This approach has been used in        events. Identifyingvolunteer talents, and tap-
Washington State where Public Involvement       ping into them, will both reduce the workload
and Education (P.I.E.) grants have been used   of the paid staff and help ensure that volun-
to fund the Puget Sound Water Quality          teers enjoy their duties.
Authority's volunteer monitoring program.




                                                                                                            Miams









































LIN


          4 0













American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association and Water Pollution
  Control Federation (APHA, AWWA, & WPCF). 1985. Standard Methodsfor the Examination
  of Water and Wastewater. 16th ed. American Public Health Association. Washington, DC.

Armitage, T., E. Baptiste and K. Ellett. 1989. "Citizen Volunteer Monitoring, a Tool for Estuarine
  Management." Coastal Zone '89, Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on Coastal and Ocean
  Management. American Society of Civil Engineers. Vol.  ,pp 887-898.

Bostrom, J. 1988. "Preventing the Undoing of Minnesota's Lakes." Presented at the 1 st National
  Monitoring Workshop on Citizen Volunteers in Environmental Monitoring, Narragansett, RI.
  May 1988.

Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Program (CBCMP). 1987. Quality Assurance Project Planfor
  the Citizen Monitoring Project, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc. (formerly Citizens
  Program for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc.) Annapolis, MD.

Cooke, K. 1988. "Kentucky Water Watch Stream Monitoring Project." Presented at the 1st
  National Monitoring Workshop on Citizen Volunteers in Environmental Monitoring, Narra-
  gansett, RI. May 1988.

Delta Laboratories, Inc. 1987. "Adopt-A-Stream" program brochure. Rochester, NY.

Ellett, K. 1988. An Introduction to Water Quality Monitoring Using Volunteers: A Handbookfor
   Coordinators. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc. Baltimore, MD.

Gault, C., H. Budd, G. Campbell, and J. Morris. 1988. Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, 1988
   Research Report. Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks, Lothian, MD.

Godfrey, P.G. 1988. 'The Massachusetts Acid Rain Monitoring Project: Focus on Quality
  Control." Presented at the 1st National Workshop on Citizen Volunteers in Environmental
   Monitoring, Narragansett, RI. May 1988.

Hawes, J.B. 1987. Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program, 1986: Volume 1: Statewide Summary
   Report. IEPA/WPC/87-007a. Division of Water Pollution Control, Illinois Environmental Pro-
   tection Agency, Springfield, IL.

Lee, V. and P. Kullberg. 1986. "Salt Pond Watchers: Rhode Island's Experiment in Citizen
   Monitoring.  Presented at the 10th National Conference of the Coastal Society Estuarine and
   Coastal Management: Tools of the Trade, New Orleans, October 1986.

Lewis, S. and J. Kopec. 1986. Ohio Scenic Rivers Stream Quality Monitoring Program 1986
   Results. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves,
   Scenic Rivers Section. Columbus, OH.

Massachusetts Audubon Society: Boston. 1986. 'Boston Harbor Monitoring" program bro-
   chure. Boston, MA.

McGill, R., J.W. Tukey and W. A. Larsen, 1978. "Variations of Box Plots." American Statistician.
   32:12-16.

McHenry, M. 1990. Personal Communication. South County Creeks Commission, Anne Arundel
   County, MD.

McLennan, R. 1986. Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, "Volunteer Lake Monitoring 1986 Water
   Quality Report-Crooked Lake." Conway, MI.

Pritchard, K. 1988. "Identifying Useful Information: What Information is Needed and How Can
   It Be Used?" Presented at the 1 st National Workshop on "Citizen Volunteers in Environmental
   Monitoring," Narragansett, RI. May 1988.













Reckhow, K.H. and L.C. Chapia. 1983. Engineering Approachesfor Lake Management. Volume
  1: Data Analysis of Empirical Methods. Butterworth Pub., Waburn MA.

Rumery, C. 1987. Wisconsin Self-Help Lake Monitoring Program Data Summaryfor 1986. PUBL-
  WR-156 87. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI.

Save Our Streams-A Citizen Action Program, Information Packet. Izaak Walton League Of
  America, Arlington, VA.

Schloss, Jeff. 1988. 'The New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program." Presented at the 1 st
  National Workshop on Citizen Volunteers in Environmental Monitoring, Narragansett, RI.
  May 1988.

Survey Information 1989. Compiled by K. Ellett, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc.,
  Annapolis, MD.

  Bellatty, J. Citizen's Volunteer Monitoring Program, Idaho Department of Health and
  Welfare, Boise, Idaho.

  Bostrom, J. Citizen Lake-Monitoring Program. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Paul,
  MN.

  Burns, A. Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,
  Springfield, IL.

  Haddon, Patricia. Anne Arundel County Volunteer Monitoring Program. Office of Planning
  and Zoning, Annapolis, MD.

  Kishbaugh, S. New York Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program. New York State
  Department of Environmental Conservation. Albany, NY.

  Kopec, J. Ohio Scenic Rivers Stream Quality Monitoring Program, Ohio Department of
  Natural Resources. Columbus, OH.

  Pearsall, W. Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. Maine Department of Environmental
  Protection, Augusta, ME.

  Schloss, J. New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program, University of New Hampshire,
  Durham, NH.

Tukey, J.W. 1977. Exploratory Data Analysis. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1979. HandbookforAnalytical Quality Control
  in Water and Wastewater Laboratories. EPA 600/4-79-019. Washington D.C.:USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1980. Guidelines and Specificationsfor Prepar-
  ing Quality Assurance Project Plans. QAMS-005/80. Washington, D.C.: USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1984a. Policy and Program Requirements to
  Implement the Quality Assurance Program. EPA Order 5360.1. Washington, D.C.: USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1984b. The Development of Data Quality
  Objectives. Washington, D.C.: USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1984c. Guidancefor Preparation of Combined
   Work/Quality Assurance Project Plansfor Environmental Monitoring. OWRS QA- 1. Washing-
  ton, D.C.: USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1987. Surface Water Monitoring: A Framework
  for Change. Washington, D.C.: Offices of Water and of Policy, Planning and Evaluation.












U.S.Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1988. Guide for Preparation of Quality Assur-
  ance Project Plans for the National Estuarine Program. Interim Final. EPA 556/2-88-001.
  Washington, D.C.: Office of Marine and Estuarine Protection.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1989. Water Quality Data Management Plan,
  Revision 1. Prepared by Computer Sciences Corporation. CBP/TRS 31/89. Chesapeake Bay
  Program, Reg III, USEPA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 1990. National Directory of Citizen Volunteer
  Environmental Monitoring Programs. Washington, D.C: Office of Water and the University of
  Rhode Island. EPA 503/9-90-004.

Wastler, A. 1987. Preliminary Review of Citizens Monitoring Program Data. Memo to Director
  of the Chesapeake Bay Liaison Office, USEPA Reg. III, Annapolis, MD.

Wisconsin Self-Help Lake Monitoring Handbook. 1989. Wisconsin Department of Natural Re-
  sources, Lake Management Program. Madison, WI.







                                                     log. UW








                as~~~~~~ 








                                                    ~~~ S~q










r-P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~












START-UP DATE        PROGRAM OBJECTIVES                               at their lake by a member of the VLMP staff.
1981                     In 1981, the Illinois Environmental Pro-     While visiting three sites on the lake, the
SAMPLING SITES       tection Agency (IEPA) initiated one of the first  volunteer is instructed in the proper proce-
150 Lakes, 450 sites    comprehensive citizen monitoring programs.    dure for using the Secchi disk, recording field
(1988)               The Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program            observations, and completing the monitor-
                     (VLMP) was designed to educate the public       ing form. Secchi disks with calibrated nylon
Secchi disk depth, total    about local lake quality and management   ropes, fact sheets, instructions, reporting
depth, and field observa-    options, and supplement IEPA data collec-  forms, and postage-paid return envelopes
tions on all lakes; sus-    tion on Illinois' lakes. The volunteers collect  are distributed at the training session. The
pended solids and nutri-    baseline data (primarily Secchi disk depth)  volunteers are expected to have a boat, an
ents are monitored on a  for 150 lakes, most of which are not moni-   anchor and the necessary safety equipment.
lakes annually0sites)  tored by State personnel. Federal, State, and      As a result of the program's emphasis on
                     local agencies refer to the data to document    personal contact with volunteers, most par-
SAMPLING             water quality impacts: select priority water-    ticipants reapply to the VLMP annually,
FREQUENCY            sheds for Clean lakes funding under Section      thereby reducing the need to recruit new
Twice a month between
Twice a month between  314(a) of the Clean Water Act, as well as for  volunteers. Currently, the program operates
May and October (solids
and nutrients sampled  cost-share funding for soil-erosion control    at maximum capacity and recruitment is
once a month on selected  from the U.S. and Illinois Departments of Ag-  targeted for special lake studies identified by
lakes).              riculture; evaluate the effectiveness of lake    the IEPA. In 1987, public water supply op-
                     protection and management projects; and         erators, State park personnel, and Soil and
Approximately 200 annu-  determine waterbody assessments for the      Water Conservation District employees were
ally (total participation be-    Section 305(b) water quality report. Lakes  enlisted, but the primary recruitment drive is
tween 1981 and 1987was  monitored by volunteers are considered to be  aimed at former volunteers. Reapplication is
750)                 "evaluated" in 305(b) assessments; only lakes    encouraged by mailing letters and registra-
ADMINISTRATION       sampled for physical, chemical, or biological    tion forms to all former volunteers in late
Administered by the Illi-    data by State agency personnel are consid-  winter or early spring.
nois Environmental Pro-    ered to be "monitored."                        Detailed monitoring instructions and
tection Agency's Lakes   In addition to supplementing data collec-    data sheets are mailed to returning volun-
Program. The Statewide    tion, the VLMP has acted as a catalyst for  teers in the spring. It is a VLMP goal to carry
VLMPCoordinatorissup-
ported by Lakes Program  local lake protection and restoration efforts;  out a quality control and retraining visit each
staff, three Areawide  virtually all VLMP lakes have had lake protec-  year the volunteer returns to the program. In
Planning Commissions  tion and management measures implemented        practice, follow-up visits have not been pos-
and three part-time em-  following participation in the program.      sible except in the three State regions ad-
ployees from the IEPA's
plOffice of Community EPA's                                           ministered by Areawide Planning Commis-
Office of Community
Regulations. Funded with  VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND                   sions. Limited retraining in the other three
Federal grants and State  TRAINING                                    State regions occurred primarily in 1987, six
matching funds.          Initially, 200 lake associations were tar-   years after program inception.
STATE CONTACT        geted for volunteer recruitment in a 1979
Amy Burns, Lakes Pro-    pilot study. The thirty-one volunteers that  SAMPLING PROTOCOL
gram, Division of Water  responded received written instructions          Three monitoring stations are usually
and Pollution Control, Illi-    describing construction and use of a Secchi  established by IEPA on each lake: one over
nois Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, 2200  disk; only two lake clubs participated for the  the deepest portion of the lake near the dam
Churchill Road, Spring-    entire sampling season. In response to the  (most Illinois lakes are impoundments), one
field, IL 62706 (217) 782-    pilot study results, the program was adver-  at mid-lake (medium depth), and one in the
3362                 tised to a broader audience through State        lake headwaters (shallow depth). The num-
                      agency newsletters and private newspapers,      ber of sampling sites will vary depending
                      and the program protocol was modified to        upon lake size and configuration. VLMP
                      encourage volunteer involvement. The VLMP       participants measure total depth and Secchi
                      was structured to encourage personal con-       disk depth at each station twice a month
                      tact between the staff and volunteers. The      between May and October, for a total of 12
                      staff began training volunteers individually    sampling periods. In addition to the depth
                      and distributed standardized Secchi disks;      data, the participants record field observa-
                      conferences, reports, and newsletters were      tions of current weather conditions, the pre-
                      developed to inform volunteers about their      vious week's precipitation, as well as qualita-
                      contribution to lake management, and to         tive assessments of water color, amount of
                      provide incentives for continued participa-     suspended sediment, suspended algae, and
                      tion.                                           aquatic plants (see Figure 1). Volunteers re-
                          New volunteers are individually trained     turn the forms to IEPA in addressed, post-































                                                                                                                      FIGURE 1

                                                                         Illinois Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program Data Reporting Form







N.#N EsD S                                SEHI)O   MONITORING                                                                                     NU E NAE  NiE
                          {]LINOI8 ENVIR0NGLNTAJ PROT lCTION AGENCY
                              VOLUNTEER LAR MONITORINO PROGRAM








                                                                                                                                              GEE 5DM SEE  EADENS FOR VEA  SEDESEES. RANDE  ONE DENSE ENEDNDC  ENS EN NEC REN  LONIN  EDN DEN TH





  COLUMN S                      CDSLUMN E                                    COLUMN $                                                                                                                       MEDE. eel ttmpeNSN.,
                                           WN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~m. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    ~         ~          ~         ~        ~         ~        ~       ~       ~       l "~q rUo,

                                    Iha                                                                            I                          mm~~~~~~au                                                    'NL...ua.*d hlpi. P~~~~~~~~~~~nr.~~~Ln~~ï¿½NE ENN  ESNOSSENDINDS.  EIN



     tnrr ~      ~       ~crleu urAMM orn*o. nra PM~n~a  6t~ ~t li   sun~tl~hb    m    ol    Rota~lrIel  U BLH   U   nIL1 .aomn   nIL      L



                                    sl~~~~~~rbzr~~~~~~~~iaubnu~~~~4   ub.
                                                                                                                                                  I  mESTS                     IDE* T~ ~r ~ t wtr IS










                                      To~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~l~~~~~NSNEN  Dep                                                                                  t f NNSeelDN


            SITE #1~ s  i           nchSNN                                                                                                                                    EDnce  PSE tREOSEVTE
             SCOESE AN EO~N DR                                                                                                                                                 SIDEU  DE    DESaUIiu.yl















                                                         {Circ l e ~    ~          ~          ~         ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ nnn AM ol~r~a~ PM,


                                      ['a~~~~~~~~~~~~lom Dephhn.uaul s
                         IEU SESEENS lIE NDS)                                                                             C                                                                                    ETae -- Feel to -n                -     -
                                                                                                                                              . ;'INNE                                                    EI   IN,        SE      -




































                                    SEENESE DDE  NESI  SEINE                                                                                          AES                                                   SEIENENE.            ... -1



                                (t. ~  ~      ~     ~      ~.. ..a~s  *= rot  ï¿½,  ; ~ ,, 
                                    Seo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hi~~~~~NIEENEE                                                                                                                                                         SNEE   DESbd~    Ill~l

















































                                        ]i~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~ï¿½bn~ F~~in~~sr
ESITE                  _______    NEED 


                         E.iSEET AM SN.rN$5S                                                                                                      I  ENNNN.E                                            E  DEEENUSONNEEOE NNEDN          --    --       -
                                                                                                                                                  Imu dlately                                 af                                t     e EaEN  af-a
TENSE NEESEE               p                 EEe fNI
                         ISCiidEnNE~ L'Snu NoECEd6l lbl ..i
                                      NE~~~oESI DNA 0SDEES  ~~~~~~~~~EESIEEN                                                                                                                                E~~~~ EONS 'ENESNE~~iyl


                          SE cdESEN ENfl                                                                                                                                              SHORe OBSERVATIONS


NICEF *3                                                                                                                                                                        S*E~ I lr DOES  S, N    DDNEENNSurnNNNEENNEh.DnEnrnï¿½
                                                                                                                                              S        EE SINE~lrrr.. ul ONEiluYï¿½lr ENENS                 ('SNEN SENSN  INS             O
                                                                                                                                                   ENENES N~d DEOI.ï¿½NNlY 
                                                                                                                                                  ENNNISENEEGISEIE-A   NSE                                                       -
TIDE                                        ABCSS--                                                                                                                                                            N     inEN-
                                                         t~~~~~~~ile~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~N                                                                                                                        EENNEND            -         --~ "  ""'
             ECINNEEpl          AMEN *55I   EDSEEENEN                                                                                                                                                                           -          -       -    .-
                                                                                                                                                      O~NENENS    SENNESNNES-                                                                 

             ONUSiwlirh ISES                DENra

      ILII ~      ~       EDIS~  SSSSSN*EEEIN                                                                                                                                                                EONOS
UNNES  RSEA  NSEICNSDNNESESN  













                                                                                                                                              EnSEENNEDNNDNE EED DD          Co jlao  Table - JE    l Incr

S  NNEN ENNEE~LIWEESSES                               SED Vï¿½SEES.Lï¿½I ENEE                                                                      END        ENSU                E            at UN..            END        nNNN                N         D
   DEanSlo NESNE   EI~IENONEONNSNENE                      SNENNENNE               -~ -rl~ r~ ~                                                  iNSxr ll     S                 SE           N                   EE          N 




     S~lin     ______        A~nOliNESONE                                                                                        I                          SNN                DEN         SN;                NE           lEO6  Ni SS.                   S
                   S ~ ~          ~        ~       ~       lu _____  NNNNDI NONES                                                             DEN          ENr~               05.5~t      SEN.IIl  i     1'ii              iiIlr 
                              DIN   ENNNN  SEE'r~ ENEENSNSEE                                                                                  ISI           SE       ~        S) SON,( ISO                                 S
                   Nn' N~                ï¿½ EENNNEDNN2E SNESNNSEE ENEINE NEElE                                                                 S              EEE                           IS                  E           S                 EE
                NOSEor NEEDS                              NNSEEESUS  NONE                                                                     EelS          No NONn SN, SN N'S
                EENNEEDESEENNinNDNNNNNNNNIENNNS           505515                                                                              EE,           N                 NS           SN                  EED         EO                SE'S         EN
                                     ~~~~~~~~~NEE S*rI                                                                                                      NEm               NESS         SEEI               E4 ENS                         ONENESS
                IEEE ~                lnniml~             N1: NEESNEN                                                                         EON           ESl~ SEE-                      EN1 SE SE


                                                                      - ~ ~         ~           ~           ~           ~          ~          11 0.6=5  55,  EN0 INI ES                                       SEN.        ENS               EN           EN
   ______________________________ll       ~  _      NlU   ~~    EDNIENNE                                                                      S SIN         N6               SO            SON                SE1 Eal'N    EON               OSNE1        S



     SINESpni                                            ENEENSE Dr lrirr~u~J~x~   oa    -nOEinNENNSENNDNOEONSOENESEENSENOENNEEEN
                                         NED~~~~~                  ~       ~       ~       ~ ENN INNSr NEENENEE                                                                                                                              21           2
     DENE1 EDNA                                      -I ED.-12                                                                                                                                                             ld                 I1.  
                                                            YDDSl.nunEEEEONDO                                                                                                                      AINDIEE  PlaI   MDEESN11)1   II  lES       1 SIO NDI
                     OPESNNEN                                                                                                                                                                      ESESDEENEENSSSEOElENENEENSENONEE
                  N   ~~-Uf~tUO EEOEN                                                                                                                                                              NEDSEESNEEENSE  O.EEsAEEENNSUNNEE
                  N   ~~.IP NOSEEEE                                                                                                                                                                EEE EEENE SON sD.       Ir               a
                 EINENONSEE'SE~.-'                                                                                                                                                                               NEOEUSENNNNEENSSEOSODES221 1            11
                                                          DSEEENEEE                                                                                                                                              NEEDED~e          ______________ll;   21   4 ï¿½1 28
                                       S~~~~ NEESSEENNEENE
                                      E ~ ~ ~          ~            ~            ~           ~            ~           ~           ~           si EEEESNNEE
                                      S ~ ~       ~               ~               ~              ~              ~              ~              a ..oEEE NEN









     SEE NEECEENNE: Nlas NESEdim SEN


                                                         _____________________                                                                      IDNIENN   SE  ENNNEEIONDOSNS   EE  D EEEEDIN  SEESENNSEENSE EEISN
                          nl.                                                                                        I                                                                             IY~~~r~*ciuuw ~~~ar~h~u. icnuDENSESEEDENNEESEUE/ES












age-paid envelopes immediately after sam-      data from the three sites on each lake. Obser-
pling.                                         vational data is used in the interpretation of
   Some selected volunteers also collect      clarity data.
water samples at selected stations on 30-50
lakes once per month from May to October.      PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
The criteria for selecting these lakes include:    Within the Illinois EPA, the VLMP is
where IEPA needs data; public ownership or     located in the Lakes Program Subunit of the
access; proven volunteer reliability at the    Division of Water Pollution Control's Plan-
lake; lake size: amount of lake use; and level  ning Section. A Statewide VLMP Coordinator
of public concern. Sampling consists of        administers all aspects of the VLMP, includ-
immersing a one-quart bottle with nitric acid  ing the acquisition and distribution of equip-
preservative for nutrient analysis, then filling  ment, preparation of the annual summary
the large bottle again to provide a suspended  reports and newsletters, and the coordina-
solids sample. The bottles are immediately     tion of training, data management, and labo-
placed in a cooler with a 48-hour ice pack and  ratory analysis. The Statewide VLMP
mailed to the IEPA laboratory. At the labora-  Coordinator's responsibilities also include
tory, samples are analyzed for total and vola-  technical assistance regarding lake ecology,
tile suspended solids, ammonia-nitrogen,       monitoring, and management; conference
nitrate+nitrite-nitrogen, and total phospho-   planning; and preparation of information/
rus.                                           education materials.
                                                   Other Lakes Program personnel assist
DATA MANAGEMENT                                with various aspects of the program such as
    Information from the data forms submit-    data review, report preparation, computer
ted by volunteers is entered into a PC data    programming, technical assistance, and in-
management system as soon as possible          formation/education.
following arrival at the IEPA. This procedure      Three of the six State VLMP regions have
serves three purposes: 1) check-in of forms    Areawide Planning Commissions (designated
and tracking of volunteer participation; 2)    under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act);
entry of Secchi disk data and qualitative      IEPA contracts with these Commissions to
information into a data base for graphical     administer the VLMP and provide lake man-
and tabular outputs; and 3) preparation for    agement technical assistance and informa-
data entry into STORET. Coding is not neces-   tion/education in their regions. The Area-
sary because the data entry screen mimics      wide VLMP Coordinators are responsible for
the data sheet submitted by the volunteers.    training volunteers, managing data, prepar-
    Verification consists of two phases. First,  ing regional reports and newsletters, and
the data are printed in tabular form and       providing lake management technical assis-
checked against the original data sheets.      tance. In the remaining regions, the IEPA
Second,the data are plotted and examined for   Office of Community Relations assists with
outliers so that simple recording mistakes,    volunteer training, follow-up visits, and re-
such as assigning data to the incorrect        port writing.
sampling site or reporting Secchi depth in
feet instead of inches, can be identified.     VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION
Questionnaire data are discussed with the          To recognize volunteer commitment,
volunteers who keep a separate log sheet at    citizen monitors receive awards based upon
home to further document procedures.           the number of completed sampling periods
    Following verification, the data are       and seasons. The awards include a thank
uploaded to STORET using a program writ-       you letter and a certificate of appreciation
ten by State personnel. VLMP data are stored   signed by the IEPA Director, cloth emblems,
in a unique file to distinguish them from      engraved wooden plaques, and lapel pins.
IEPA-collected data. Statistical analyses      The awards are presented during the VLMP
performed using STORET and SAS include         session of the Illinois Lake Management
calculation of the minimum, maximum, and       Association (ILMA) Conference held annually
mean Secchi disk depth; calculation of a       in the spring.
Carlson Trophic State Index; and analysis of       The purpose of the VLMP session is to
Tukey's Multiple Range Test to compare year-   retrain returning volunteers and recognize
to-year changes in mean Secchi disk depth.     outstanding volunteers. Participants ex-
The IEPA staff all examine within-lake vari-   change information among themselves, at-
ation in clarity by comparing Secchi depth     tend retraining sessions, and meet withVLMP












                                                                                                Figure 2
                            Annual Budget and Funding Sources for Illinois' VLMP  The annual budget and
                                                                                                funding sources for
  A. Illinois Environmental Protection Agency - funded with Clean Water Act                    Monitoring Program.
  (CWA) Section 106 funds and State matchsing funds.
      1. Lakes ProgramStaff (3 persons totalling 0.75 FTE). Responsible    $30,000*
      for Statewide program administration, coordination, and supervi-
      sion: provide lake management technical conference, and informa-
      tion/education assistance; data management; preparation of annual
      State summary and three regional report volumes; and editing the
      newsletter.
      2. Clerical and summer staff (3 persons totalling 0.5 FTE). Perform    $12,000*
      data management, mailings,and assist with report preparation.
      3. Community Relations Coordinators (3 persons totalling 0.3 FTE).
      Make training and follow-up visits on 65 lakes; assist with report and    $15,000*
      newsletter writing.
      4. Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring - chemical analysis. Lab
      analysis at $50 per sample for total phosphorus, nitrate+nitrite-    $20,000
      nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, total and volatile suspended solids.
      5. Annual Illinois Lake Management Association and VLMP Confer-    $1,000
      ence.

  B. Areawide Planning Commissions - funded by CWA Section 2050).
       I. Areawide Planning Commission personnel and overhead (3 per-    $45,000*
      sons totalling 0.75 FTE). Responsible for program administration,
      training and follow-up visits, and data management for 75 lakes; lake
      management technical assistance, conference planning, and infor-
      mation/education; and preparation of 3 regional reports.

      ANNUAL BUDGET                                                                      I $123,000
  C. One-time Equipment Costs - purchased with CWA Section 205
      I) funds.

       1. Two hundred Secchi disks with calibrated ropes, at $20 each.      $4,000

      TOTAL BUDGET                                                         $127,000
      (does not include equipment costs)
  * Includes 44.2% indirect costs which cover printing, telephone, copying, and office space; and
  18% for fringe benefits, travel, and supplies.


staff to discuss concerns. Volunteers may      ment recommendations. The report is dis-
participate in a panel discussion describing    tributed to Federal, State and local agencies,
how VLMP data have been used to promote         libraries, and individual volunteers. Four
local lake protection and management. Hold-     newsletters are mailed to volunteers during
ing the VLMP conference in conjunction with     the monitoring season, featuring important
the ILMA Conference allows the volunteers to    pointers regarding monitoring techniques
discuss their concerns with lake manage-        and educational information on lake condi-
ment professionals, and increases their         tions and management. Volunteers who
exposure to broader lake management is-        perform consistent sampling also receive a
sues.                                           report analyzing the results of their sampling
   The Illinois program places emphasis on     and suggesting applicable lake protection
writing reports which present the VLMP data     and restoration strategies. These reports
in a professional format. A statewide sum-     inform the volunteers, as well as other State
mary report is published annually with six      agencies and local lake management au-
companion regional reports containing indi-    thorities, of the value of the VLMP data. A
vidual lake data analyses and lake manage-      considerable amount of staff time is also













devoted to technical assistance and educa-     SELECTED PROGRAM MATERIALS
tional activities associated with the VLMP.    Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program, 1987;
                                                 Volume I: Statewide Summary Report. Illi-
PROGRAM EXPENSE AND FUNDING                      nois Environmental Protection Agency, Di-
   The Illinois Citizen monitoring program       vision of Water Pollution Control.
is funded through Clean Water Act Section
106 and 2050) grants and State matching        Summary of Ilinois' Volunteer Lake Monitor-
funds. The annual program budget (shown in        ing Program. Illinois Environmental Pro-
Figure 2) accounts fully for all overhead        tection Agency, Division of Water Pollution
expenses, such as travel costs, office ex-       Control. 6 pages.
penses, staff benefits, printing, and supplies.
The annual budget includes $30,000 for         Lakes Program Summary. Illinois Environ-
Lake's program staff and overhead; $45,000       mental Protection Agency, Division ofWater
distributed to three Areawide Planning           Pollution Control. 4 pages.
Commissions; $15,000 for IEPA Community
Relations Coordinators; $12,000 for clerical
assistance with data entry, mailings, and
report preparation; $20,000 for laboratory
analyses; and $1,000 to host the VLMP con-
ference. Two hundred Secchi disks were
purchased for a one-time cost of $4,000.












PROGRAM OBJECTIVES                            THE PILOT STUDY                                START-UP DATE
   The Kentucky Water Watch Volunteer            The VSSP is an offshoot of the Kentucky    1987
Stream Sampling Project (VSSP), one compo-    Water Watch Program, a public participation    SAMPLING SITES
nent of the State's Water Watch public par-   program initiated by the Division of Water in  7 Rivers, 57 sites (1988)
ticipation program, is designed to achieve the  1985. The principal objectives of this pro-
following goals:                              gram are to promote community awareness        PARAMETERS
    1. To generate data for the Kentucky      of water quality issues and to encourage    Onsite chemical analysis
                                                                                                of dissolved oxygen, pH,
Division of Water on stream segments not      individual responsibility for the protection of    nitrate, phosphate, iron,
included in the existing Kentucky Ambient     water resources. Under the program, citizens    chlorides, and tempera-
Water Quality Monitoring Network;             form Water Watch groups to "adopt" a stream    ture.
    2. To enable community groups to ac-      or lake (i.e. take responsibility for informing    SAMPLING FREQ.
quire local water quality data;               the State of water quality issues relevant to    One survey per month,
                                                their waterbody and initiating protection ef-    year round.
    3. To educate the public about the condi-  forts). Over the last three years, groups in this
tion and importance of Kentucky's water       program have organized stream rehabilita-    NO.VOLUNTEERS
resources.                                    tion projects, developed educational presen-    Over 100 volunteers n 31
    The primary objective is to produce high   tations, and performed simple biological
quality data which can be used by both State  surveys to characterize water quality in some  ADMINISTRATION
personnel and local community groups. To      adopted waterbodies.                           Administered by the Ken-
meet this objective, the project has focused      In 1986, several Water Watch groups    tucky Division of Water's
                                                                                                 Water Watch Program.
on recruiting volunteers with scientific or   expressed a desire to undertake systematic    The Water Watch Coordi-
technical backgrounds, thereby enhancing      chemical monitoring of their adopted streams.    nator manages the moni-
data quality, but restricting public participa-  The Division of Water (DOW) tested citizen    toringprojectunderthesu-
tion. To date, the State has found the data   monitoring as a means of acquiring addi-    pervisionofacommission
capable of detecting acute water quality prob-  tional data on a disputed stream, Rock Creek.    of State agency directors.
lems in stream segments not included in the   The pilot study compared the performance of    grants and general State
Ambient Monitoring Network. During the        an existing Water Watch group and the    revenues fund the pro-
project's initial year (July 1987-July 1988),  McCreary County Hiking club, solicited spe-    gram.
the Division of Water used the volunteer data  cifically to sample Rock Creek. Each group    STATE CONTACT:
to identify two noncomplying dischargers      received varying levels of support from the    Ken Cooke, Kentucky
and five stream sites where standards were    Water Watch coordinator based upon their    Water Watch, Division of
exceeded. Although the State does not use     initial interest in monitoring. The existing    Water, Kentucky Natural
volunteer data alone to implement enforce-    Water Watch groups received little contact    Resources and Environ-
ment actions, the citizen monitors have       following trainingbecause they had requested    mental Protection Cabi-
                                                                                                 net, 18 Reilly Road,
demonstrated that they can reliably locate    monitoring responsibilities; this group's    Frankfort, KY40601 (502)
water quality problems for further investiga-  motivation rapidly deteriorated and the group    564-3410
tion by State enforcement personnel.          did not submit data. In contrast, the McCre-
    The State enters the citizen data into a  ary County Hiking Club was telephoned at
unique file on the State Prime Interagency    least once each month to acknowledge re-
Data Base with the intention of documenting   ceipt of sampling results and discuss the
baseline conditions and long-term water       data. The phone conversations informed the
quality trends in the future. The data are not  volunteers that State personnel had exam-
entered into STORET or incorporated into the  ined the data, and provided the volunteers
State's 305(b) reporting process at this time.  with an opportunity to resolve monitoring
    Independently, the volunteer groups use   protocol problems. As a result of the interest
their data to document and publicize local    expressed by the DOW, the hiking club sub-
water quality conditions, under the condition  mitted data for ten of the twelve sampling
that they specify the data origins and limita-  periods during the year-long pilot study. On
tions. Currently, the VSSP is expanding public  the basis of the hiking club results, the pilot
participation to school groups. The data      study was considered a conditional success,
submitted by the school groups are less ac-   and additional groups were contacted to ini-
curate and consistent than data collected by  tiate the VSSP.
other groups: therefore, these data are kept
in a separate file to prevent deterioration of    VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND
the existing data base quality. The primary   TRAINING
objective continues to be the establishment       Scientifically trained volunteers from the
of a reliable data base for State and public  existing Water Watch network were recruited
use.                                          to implement the full-scale VSSP. Sampling












applications were sent out to targeted groups   applied to continue sampling for a second
on the Water Watch Newsletter mailing list,    year, and a surplus of Water Watch groups
including university and community college      are available to replace the three groups
science departments, environmental engi-        asked to leave the program because ofincon-
neers at private industries, existing Water     sistent monitoring.
Watch groups, and high school teachers.
Groups lacking technical expertise, such as     SAMPLING PROTOCOL
school students, were not solicited. High           Monitoring parameters were selected by
standards for volunteer selection were set -    sending a questionnaire to water quality
one member of each group had to have at         specialists within the State Division of Water
least a college degree minor in a science-      (DOW), and several specialists at the U.S.
related field. Respondents were evaluated       Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geo-
with a point system favoring groups with        logical Survey. Each professional was asked
technical and scientific experience, groups     to rank the ten most important factors affect-
with previous volunteer service in the Water    ing Kentucky waters. The most important
Watch Program, and groups in close proxim-      factor received ten points, the next factor was
ity to priority streams. Priority streams were  assigned nine points, and so on. Based on
those not sampled in the State-staffed Ambi-    this point system, the three parameters
ent Water Quality Monitoring Network or the     ranked as most important were dissolved
Stream Use Designation Study. The State         oxygen, pH, and conductivity. The DOW then
selected a volunteer pool that includes pro-    determined the availability and cost of tests
fessional biologists, chemists, engineers and   to monitor these parameters and requested
lab technicians, as well as property owners     bids from several chemical companies for
along priority streams.                         appropriate monitoring equipment. Of the
    The selected volunteer groups signed a      top three parameters, conductivity was elimi-
contract to collect monthly samples at a        nated from consideration by the high cost of
minimum of two sites between July 1987 and      conductivity meters.
July 1988. Groups failing to submit data for        Two versions of the test kit were ap-
80% of the contracted sampling periods were     proved for use by volunteer monitoring
considered for removal from the program.        groups. In urban and agricultural areas,
Each group appointed a group supervisor         volunteers sampled for dissolved oxygen,
from its membership to organize sampling        pH, temperature, nitrate-nitrogen, ortho-
trips and act as group liaison with the pro-    phosphate, and chlorides. In mountain and
gram staff,                                     coal-field locations, sulfate and iron were
    Prior to monitoring, volunteers received    sampled instead of nutrients. Subsequently
two hours of onsite training with the project   (after quality control checks revealed serious
coordinator. At this time, chemical test kits,  problems), the sulfate test was discouraged
written instructions describing procedures      and the DOW disregarded the sulfate data.
and data analysis, and reporting forms, were    The test kits perform with an overall preci-
distributed. In addition to performing the      sion of ï¿½ 20% and, it should be noted, are not
chemical tests under the coordinator's su-      EPA approved. However, the dissolved oxy-
pervision, the volunteers were required to at-  gen test (the azide modification of the Win-
tend a follow-up session on interpreting and    kler Method), performed with a variance of
publicizing sampling results.                   _0.2 ppm (within 5%) in five quality control
    In response to the pilot study results,     checks comparing test kit results and dis-
monthly phone calls were made to all group      solved oxygen meter results.
supervisors to encourage volunteer commit-          In 1988, 31 volunteer groups monitored
ment and enthusiasm for the program. Other      57 stream sites monthly with the chemical
motivational strategies included publicizing    test kits. The test kits were distributed with-
enforcement action initiated with volunteer     out charge to groups sampling priority wa-
data, acknowledging participation with cer-     ters designated by the DOW. Volunteer groups
tificates, and distributing caps with the proj-  sampling non-priority streams, as well as
ect logo to volunteers. The personal contact    school groups (approximately 30% of sam-
between State staff and volunteers, in con-     pling groups) were required to purchase test
junction with the publicity from successful     kits from DOW for $165 per kit.
enforcement actions, are credited with sus-        The reliability of the volunteer data is
taining public interest in the VSSP. Approxi-   assured in a three-pronged quality control
mately 70% of the volunteer groups have         program. First, individual accountability is












assigned to the group's supervisor who must    the limitations of the data are clearly stated
sign each reporting form. In the second phase,  (i.e., not officially sanctioned by the State).
groups periodically receive blank samples of    Several monitoring groups independently plot
deionized water and standard solutions pre-     and publicize their sampling results by print-
pared at the State lab. The groups test the    ing the data in their club newsletters or
samples and report their results back to the   posting the results in public locations includ-
DOW. These standard tests alerted the DOW       ing classrooms and a post office.
to a problem with the sulfate test. Volunteers
were reporting concentrations of 200 ppm in     PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
deionized blanks due to contamination from     AND BUDGET
barium chloride buildup on the test kit test       The VSSP is managed by the Water Watch
tubes. The sulfate test results were dropped    Program Coordinator under the supervision
based upon the quality control results. Al-     of the Quality Control Committee. The Com-
though some groups continue to sample           mittee is comprised of supervisors from the
sulfates, the data is not accepted by the      State agencies affected by the citizen moni-
DOW. Field tests are the third component of    toring project, including the monitoring and
the quality control program. Periodically,      enforcement branches. The Committee set
State personnel accompany volunteers and        the project guidelines to ensure that the
compare the results of volunteer test kits     program would be integrated into the existing
with State equipment results.                   State agency workload and would produce
                                                reliable data. The coordinator's duties in-
DATA MANAGEMENT                                 elude selecting the monitoring groups, con-
    Each volunteer group supervisor sends       ducting training sessions, maintaining con-
one copy of the data forms to the DOW and       tact with the volunteers, setting up the qual-
maintains a separate copy for his or her own    ity control tests, writing reports, and manag-
use. The program coordinator examines the       ing interagency use of the volunteer data. The
data for unusual values and phones the          coordinator developed a network of college
volunteers to verify questionable results. The  professors, called Expert Advisors, to field
data, including verified outliers, are entered  questions from the volunteers. Each moni-
onto a Xerox 8010 Work Station with word        toring group has a volunteer supervisor who
processing and graphic capabilities to gener-  maintains contact with the coordinator.
ate public reports. The Work Station data           Costs of the VSSP are approximately
analysis capabilities are restricted to plotting  30% of the total Water Watch Program budget,
simple graphs and sorting the data by high      or $20,000 annually. Of this, the largest
and low data values. To perform more so-        expenditure is the coordinator's salary,
phisticated analysis, the data are entered      $8,000, which amounts to at least 1/3 FTE.
onto the State Prime Interagency Data Base,    An allocation of $2,500 pays for the extensive
a mainframe system with access to Statisti-     travel required of the coordinator (about 750
cal Analysis System (SAS), then downloaded      miles per week). Supply costs have been
to an IBM PC Symphony Software spread           limited because nearly a third of the volun-
sheet. Outliers are excluded from the main-     teer groups purchase the test kits; during the
frame data base, and the volunteer data are     firstyear, expenditures on supplies amounted
stored in a unique mainframe file to distin-   to about $6,500. Printing and overhead costs
guish them from data collected by State         are estimated to be $3,000.
employees.                                         The source of funding for the VSSP is
    Currently, the data are insufficient to     approximately as follows: 30 percent from
detect water quality trends, but correlations   Section 106(g) grants and 25 percent from
between high nutrient concentrations and        Section 205(j) Federal Water Quality Plan-
low dissolved oxygen levels have been identi-  ning grants under the Clean Water Act; 30
fled on individual streams. In the future,     percent from State funds; and 15 percent
time series regression analysis will be em-     from private sources. The grants are com-
ployed to statistically document trends.        bined into one public participation fund which
    The citizen monitoring results are pub-     is accessed for the VSSP.
lished in regular reports and distributed to
interested groups as well as the State Biologi-  BENEFITS FROM THE VOLUNTEER
cal Staff and DOW Field Offices. Volunteer      STREAM SAMPLING PROJECT
groups are encouraged to share their infor-         In addition to providing background data
mation with the local community as long as      for future trend analysis, the VSSP has iden-












tified specific water quality problems at five  SELECTED PROGRAM MATERIALS
sites during the first year. Remedial actions  Kentucky WaterWatchStreamMonitoring Proj-
have already been implemented at two sites-       ect: Training Material for Volunteer Moni-
a dairy farm and a factory manufacturing          toring Teams. Kentucky Natural Resources
jeans. Volunteers also discovered two aban-       and Environmental Protection Cabinet,
doned mines and sent the information to the       Division of Water. 1988. 28 pages.
State Division of Abandoned Lands for fur-
ther action.                                   Kentucky Water Watch StreamMonitoring Proj-
    The remedial action at the jeans factory      ect Report to Citizen's Monitoring Work-
resulted almost entirely from volunteer efforts.  shop, May 1988 - Volunteers Monitor Ken-
The monitors, including a lab technician and      tucky Water. Kentucky Natural Resources
a school teacher, detected phosphorus             And Environmental Protection Cabinet,
concentrations 30 times the State standard        Division of Water. 1988. 38 pages.
of 0.5 ppm. The VSSP coordinator felt the
results were reliable based upon the           Water Watch Adopt-a-Stream Program. Pro-
volunteers' expertise and the consistency of      gram Overview. Kentucky Natural Re-
the sampling results. The volunteers were         sources and Environmental Protection
encouraged to continue sampling upstream          Cabinet, Division of Water. Undated. 12
until they located a potential source of the      pages.
phosphorus, which led them to a wastewater
treatment plant. The volunteers visited the    A Field Guide to Kentucky Rivers and Streams.
plant operator who admitted the problem           Kentucky Natural Resources and Envi-
came from a jeans factory not following           ronmental Protection Cabinet, Division of
pretreatment guidelines. Subsequently, the        Water. 1985 (revised May 1986). 114 pages.
factory cooperated with State officials and
installed equipment to improve its
pretreatment of wastewater.
    In the case of the dairy, citizen sampling
indicated low dissolved oxygen concentra-
tion in a creek. The volunteer went upstream
and witnessed a milky discharge from a dairy
plant. The DPW enforcement branch was
notified and inspected the plant but could
not locate a discharge. The volunteer contin-
ued to casually monitor the plant and ob-
served that the discharge only occurred in
mid-afternoon. The enforcement branch was
again notified, and with more specific infor-
mation was able to inspect the plant at the
appropriate time.
    The results from the VSSP's first year
generate a sense of power and participation
for the volunteers and the public. The reap-
plication rate suggests that the project has
been successful in maintaining public inter-
est and support. While the public appears to
perceive the VSSP as successful, the State
Standards and Specifications Group within
the DPW still perceives the project with skep-
ticism, despite efforts to integrate the pro-
gram into the existing agency structure and
workload.













PROGRAM OBJECTIVES                             not detected by regular sampling. The DEC      START-UP DATE
   The Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment      intends to use the information to direct       1986
Program (CSLAP) is a cooperative effort devel-  additional monitoring and research projects.  SAMPLING SITES
oped by the New York State Department of                                                      75 Lakes (1990)
Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the       PARAMETER SELECTION
New York Federation of Lake Associations,          Parameters were selected for inclusion in  PARAMETERS
Inc. (FOLA), a coalition of lake researchers,  the CSLAP from a list of nine standard water   Secchi disk depth, lake
                                                                                                 level, precipitation, dis-
landowners, and interested citizens commit-    quality parameters monitored in State-staffed  solved oxygen, macro-
ted to promoting lakes research and ex-        programs. The selection criteria included ease  phytes; volunteers also
changing lake management information. The      of data collection, cost of analysis and equip-  collect, process, and mail
program is designed to collect baseline data   ment, and value of the information obtained.   watersamplestotheState
                                                                                                 Department of Health
for preparation of lake-specific management    Total-phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, chloro-    laboratory for analysis of
plans, while educating lake residents and      phyll, "true" color, conductivity, pH, tem-    nutrients, chlorophyll,
users about lake ecology, management prac-     perature, and Secchi disk transparency were    color, pH, and conductiv-
tices, and data collection. The data are used  chosen for the first sampling season, 1986.    ity.
to document trends on individual lakes, iden-  Laboratory costs prohibited the inclusion of    SAMPLING FREQ.
tify specific water quality problems, and cal-    informative but less essential parameters,  Weeklysamplesbetween
culate trophic status to support the DEC's     such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and     June and October.
lake management recommendations to indi-       the dissolved states of phosphorus. When
vidual lake associations.                      possible, less expensive surrogate parame-     NO. VOLUNTEERS
    The CSLAP supplements DEC's Lake           ters were substituted; for example, "true"    Approximately280
Classification and Inventory Survey (LCI),    color analysis was selected to provide a rough  ADMINISTRATION
the State-staffed program that monitors New    measure of DOC.                                Jointly administered by
York's lakes. Generally, DEC staff sample          In 1987 the program purchased two DO-      the New York State De-
less than 5% of the State's 7000 lakes each    meters and found that each meter could be      partment of Environ-
                                                                                                 mental Conservation and
year, and regular monitoring is restricted to  shared by up to six lake associations. DO      the New York Federation
special study lakes. By employing the same     testing became an optional activity in 1988    of Lake Associations, Ilnc.
equipment and procedures as DEC, the CSLAP     for a subset of the CSLAP lakes. Other analy-  Funded primarily with
volunteers can expand the number of lakes      ses, such as macrophyte identification and     State general revenues.
monitored and increase sampling frequency.     precipitation and water level monitoring, have  STATE CONTACT
To date, the DEC has not incorporated the      been added to the monitoring regime to    Scott Kishbaugh, New
CSLAP data into the State 305(b) Report        address specific public concerns and fill DEC  York Department of Envi-
because most of the lakes monitored by vol-    information gaps.                              ronmental Conservation,
unteers are not included in the "problem"                                                     BureauofTechnicaServ-
                                                                                                 ices and Research, Room
waterbodies that are covered in the 305(b)     VOLUNTEER TRAINING AND                         301, 50 Wolf Road, Al-
Report. However, DEC has used CSLAP data       RECRUITMENT                                    bany, NY 12233-3502
to determine the effect of onsite wastewater       All CSLAP participants must be mem-        (518) 457-7470
systems at several lakes and to make prelimi-  bers of a lake association that is affiliated
nary assessments of lake water quality for    with and recommended by the New York
the 1990 305(b) report.                        Federation of Lake Associations (FOLA). DEC
    In addition to generating baseline lake    and FOLA work together to choose new lakes.
quality data, the CSLAP facilitates the ex-    The selected lake associations confirm their
change of information between lake resi-    interest in the program and commit a team of
dents and State personnel. In 1988, the DEC    at least two primary and two secondary vol-
distributed a user survey to approximately     unteers to attend training. Following the
5,000 members of lake associations partici-    initial year of the program (1986), a surplus
pating in the CSLAP. The questionnaire was     of lake associations have sought admission
designed to evaluate public perceptions of    into the CSLAP, and active recruitment has
lake water quality, sources of degradation,    not been necessary.
and management strategies for maintaining          CSLAP personnel train each group enter-
or improvingwater quality. The survey should   ing the program onsite during a 3-4 hour
determine if lake users perceive the water     session. The training session includes an
quality problems detected by monitoring,       introduction and explanation of the program,
and therefore are willing to cooperate with    equipment distribution, instruction on sample
DEC management plans and provide fman-         collection and processing techniques, and a
cial assistance for implementing protection    question-and-answer session. The volunteers
efforts. The questionnaire may also identify    also receive written instructions describing
localized, episodic water quality problems     sampling and mailing procedures. The CSLAP




U       111  i-1112i:i-1*i  *31-i -'-                              :II     ll









                                                         CSLAP Quality Control Data from 1987

        Lake Name           Date            Sample           Total P         NO3              Sp Cond          pH           Color        Chi a
                                            Type            (mg/I)           (mg/I)          (P mho/cm)                    (ptu)         (lg/l)

        Glen Lake           7/3             CSLAP            0.010           <.02             262              8.02         10           8.3
                            7/6             LCI              0.012           <.02             250              7.90         16           NA
        Loon Lake          8/10             CSLAP            0.009           <.02             81               7.43         21           2.1
                            8/10            DEC              0.007           NA               81               7.19         17           5.9
        Crooked Lake        8/2             CSLAP            0.011           <.02             148              8.32         12           7.3
                            8/2             DEC              0,012           NA               136              8.49         10           NA
        Lake Moraine       7/29             CSLAP            0.017           0.28             237              8.31         2            6.3
                            7/29            DEC              0.012           0.27             236              8.02         7            5.5
        Petonia Lake       8/4              CSLAP            0.008           <.02             63               6.83         6            3.0
                            8/4             DEC              0.006           NA               63               7.02         5            3.3
        Tuscarora           8/2             CSLAP            0.013            NA              165              7.86         6            3.4
        Lake               8/2              DEC              0.011           <.02             165              7.41         12           2.1
        Conesus Lake        8/1             CSLAP            0.010           <.02             336              8.17         5            3.9
                            8/1             DEC              0.011           NA               336              8.07         6            2.1
        Cuba Lake          8/1              CSLAP            0.019           <.02             119              7.14         9            24.4
                            8/1             DEC              0.013           <.02             118              7.18         NA           17.0
        Findley Lake       7/30             CSLAP            0.047           <.02             209              7.29         11           62.2
                            7/30            DEC              0.056           NA               210              7.38         12           73.3
                            10/1            CSLAP            0.049           0.04             215              7.76         11           73.2
                            10/1            CSLAP            0.036           0.04             210              7.64         12           49.6
        Silver Lake        8/1              CSLAP            0.056           <.02             278              7.44         11           151
                            8/1             DEC              0.052           <.02             271              7.45         9            144
        Wolf Lake           8/8             CSLAP            0.018           <.02             36               5.58         13           29.6
                            8/8             DEC              0.017           <.02             36               6.57         17           31.8
        Sacandaga          7/11             CSLAP            0.006           0.03             43               6.97         15           13.7
        Lake               7/10             DEC              0.007           0.08             43               7.25         19           15.8
        Brant Lake          7/5             CSLAP            0.008           <.02             73               7.42         16           4.4
                            7/6             LCI              0.008           <.02             57               7.50         16           4.5
                            8/10            CSLAP            0.006           <.02             77               7.25         11           4.4
                            8/10            DEC              0.008           <.02             138              3.72         10           5.7
                            9/14            CSLAP            0.004           NA               75               7.07         6            5.2
                            9/15            LCI              0.007           <.02             55               7.25         4            3.5

      TABLE 1                   staff perform  quality assurance follow-up                  lowered to a depth of 1.5 meters and transfer
      New York Citizen          visits at least once during the sampling sea-               a sample into a collapsible (acclimated) poly-
      Statewide Lake Assess-    son, during which any continuing sampling                   ethylene container. Air and water tempera-
      ment Program (CSLAP)      problems may be resolved.                                   tures and weather conditions are recorded.
      quality control data from                                                             On shore, the volunteers prepare the samples
      1987. Comparison of data  SAMPLING PROTOCOL                                           for shipment to the New York State Depart-
      collected by CSLAP
      volunteers and Depart-         CSLAP participants measure Secchi disk                 ment of Health (DOH} laboratory: phospho-
      ment of Environmental     transparency and collect water samples be-                  rus samples are placed in bottles containing
      Conservation (DEC)        tween June and October. During the initial                  sulfuric acid  preservative;  a  "true" color
      staff and by Lake         sampling season on each CSLAP lake, one                     sample is filtered through a millipore mem-
      Classification and        site is sampled weekly; if the data indicate                brane filter: a chlorophyll sample is acquired
      Inventory (LCI) personnel
      during 1986 and 1987.     little variation from week to week, sampling                by passing 25 ml of lake water through a
                                frequency is reduced in subsequent seasons                 membrane filter coated with a magnesium
                                to minimize laboratory costs. The sampling                 carbonate suspension and placing the filter
                                site is established over the deepest portion of            in a borosilicate vial filled with a solution of
                                the lake by constructing transects connect-                methanol and chloroform; and the unpreser-
                                ing permanent shoreline landmarks. Volun-                  ved pH/specific conductivity and nitrogen
                                teers collect samples with a Kemmerer bottle               samples are bottled.












    The samples are placed in a styrofoam 
packing crate with two 72-hour ice packs and
the sample identification forms, then mailed
to the DOH laboratory with prepaid postage                                    SECTION 1
labels. DOH returns the crates to the volun-
teers with new vials prepared with the pre-       LAKE NAME                                         DATE
servatives. Each volunteer rotates three          SAMPLER(S)
packing crates and their ice packs with the
lab to avoid problems arising from postal
delays in returning the crates.                   ASOUNDING DEPTH (See Reverse Side)
delays in returning the crates.
    Following the completion of one sam-
pling season, volunteers may expand moni-         S       DISK                                      (onbottom?)
toring activities by collecting hydrology data    Reading   i 
with rainfall and staff gages, determining
dissolved oxygen profiles with a Nester per-
manent membrane DO meter, or collecting                                       SECTION 3
aquatic vegetation. For this last activity, DEC   TIME           [ AM            AIR TEMPERATURE
staff designed a macrophyte sampling proto-                      L PM
col in response to frequent complaints about      WATER SAMPLE    DEPTH          WATERTEMPERATURE
aquatic weeds. The protocol consists of drag-
ging a weighted rake fitted with a steel collar                               SECTION4
and retrieval lines across the lake bottom for                       onditions present two or more days in a week
a fixed distance, at three depths related to            :; c:ancheckmorethanonebox).
water transparency. This protocol is followed      Today   Wind    Past Week
at several sites throughout the littoral zone.l weather conditions or pollution
                                                                                  Unusual weather conditions or pollution
Individual genera are tagged, placed in plas-                                    problems this past week, observations
tic bags, and mailed to the DEC for species       U      *Moderate;              during today's sampling, deviations
identification and archiving. During the first    U        Windy                 (distance and direction) from the primary
year of macrophyte sampling (1987), the                                          samplingsiteetc.
volunteers collected 25 plant species on 10          :i       y
lakes, including most of the significant spe-    U]        Clear   
cies identified by an independent compre-         U      Pt. Cloudy    U
hensive macrophyte survey of Babcock Lake.
                                                   [   :: ;; Overcast   []
The protocol is not intended to identify every
plant species present, but the preliminary       1U         Rainy    [1          Initials
results suggest that the macrophyte proce-
dures can provide a reliable profile of the      to carbon dioxide contamination and biologi-     FIGURE 1
significant species present, their growth        cal activity in the sample during transport to     -C
patterns, and relationship to lake clarity.      the DOH laboratory.                              Statew York Citizen
    The program staff perform quality con-           The excellent quality control results have   Assessment Program
trol checks during two follow-up visits to       enabled the CSLAP program coordinator to         Sampling Record Form.
each lake during the sampling season. The        promote the program as a reliable source of
coordinators observe the volunteers' tech-       lake quality data to other State Agency per-
nique to ensure consistency, then collect        sonnel. As a result, annual funding from the
samples from the same location at roughly        State of New York has been increased and the
the same time. The samples collected by the      program continues to expand; the number of
volunteers and the staff are analyzed by the     monitored lakes has increased from 25 in
DOH laboratory and the results are corn-         1986 to 61 in 1989. Aquatic weed sampling
pared. Concurrent sampling by volunteers         was added to the program in 1987, dissolved
and other DEC survey teams also serve as         oxygen monitoring became optional during
quality control checks. Comparison of data       the 1988 sampling season, and acid rain
collected by CSLAP volunteers and staff, and     monitoring began in 1989.
Lake Classification and Inventory (LCI) per-
sonnel during 1986 and 1987 (Table 1), indi-     DATA MANAGEMENT
cate only slight variation. Many of the ob-          A Sampling Record (Figure 1) is com-
served differences can be inherently attrib-     pleted for every sampling period, and mailed
uted to equipment and procedures. Discrep-       to the DEC either directly or via the DOH. The
ancies in the pH values are thought to be due    recorded information and data from DOH













sample analysis are entered into a dBASE-III   vegetation studies in the Finger Lakes Dis-
management system on a personal computer       trict.) Program funds are allocated as follows:
at the DEC. Statistical analysis, tables,      $45,000 to pay the salaries of the DEC Pro-
graphs, (using Microsoft Chart) and report     gram Coordinator and the FOLA Coordinator;
texts (using Wordstar 2000) are prepared on    $6,100 for materials for returning volun-
the personal computer. Survey forms are        teers; $41,000forlaboratoryanalysis; $5,500
entered on Excel. At this time the database is    to mail samples to the DOH laboratory; $2,500
insufficient to detect trends; therefore, analy-  to purchase dissolved oxygen meters; and
sis is limited to descriptive statistics, includ-  approximately $10,000 for other expenses
ing minimum, maximum, and mean values          including printing reports and office over-
of nutrients, chlorophyll, and Secchi disk     head.
depth. A Carlson Trophic State is assigned to      Lake monitoring costs decline sharply
each lake based upon the mean values. State-   following the initial year; the equipment and
wide correlation between chlorophyll, phos-    most of the materials are reused and the
phorus, and Secchi disk depth are also as-     sampling frequency may be reduced if the
sessed.                                        first year's data indicates little weekly vari-
    Program results are highlighted in an      ation. As a result, laboratory analysis costs
annual report that includes a summary of    for an individual lake may drop from $1100
information collected at each monitoring site.  during the first sampling season, to $500 in
Program results are also publicized in the     subsequent years. Similarly, equipment costs
FOLA newsletter, at FOLA conferences, and      may decline from $450 to $75.
at lake association meetings.

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION                         SELECTED PROGRAM MATERIALS
    The CSLAP is jointly administered by one   Annual Report 1987: New York State Citizens
full-time program coordinator designated by      Statewide LakeAssessment Program. New
full-the DEC, and onim e program  coordinator deYork State Department of Environmental
the DEC, and one part-time coordinator
            appointed  by  the  FOLA. The  DEC   Conservation, Division of Water. 1988.
appointed by the FOLA. The DEC
responsibilities include preparing the           431 pages.
sampling protocol, contacting the
                                               Citizens StatewideLakeAssessmentProgram
participating lake associations, purchasing    CitizensStatewideL
                                                  Sampling Protocol. State of New York De-
and distributing equipment,  training            partment of Environmental Conservation,
volunteers, coordinating analytical services      Division of W    ater, and the Federation 
with the DOH, managing data, implementing         Lake Associ ations, Inc. 1988. 36 pages.
the quality assurance plan, and compiling        This instruction manual d      escribes basic
the annual report. The FOLA Coordinator
assists in recruiting lake associations,         watersamplingproceduresforCSLAPpar-
volunteer training and maintaining contact
with volunteers, and presenting program
results in newsletter articles and at lake     New York Citizens Statewide Lake Assess-
association meetings. The FOLA Scientific        ment Program  CSLAP) User Survey. New
Advisory Board reviews the CSLAP annual          York State Department of Environmental
                                                  Conservation, Division of Water, and the
report and provides technical assistance on
            program revisions. The DOH performs all  Federation of Lake Associations, Inc. 1988.
program revisions. The DOH performs all
analytical services; their responsibilities
include sample receipt and in-house
                                               CSLAP Vegetation Survey Protocol. New York
preservation, internal quality control of       SLP Vegetation Survey Protocol. New York
                                                  State Department of Environmental
samples and processing paperwork, returning      S tate Department of Environmental
mailers and supplies to the volunteers and       Conservation, Division ofWater. Undated.
compilation of laboratory reports.
    The 1988 CSLAP budget of roughly
$110,000 consists of $85,000 secured from
the DEC operating budget, and $25-30,000
provided by the Finger Lakes Association to
fund the addition of 19 lakes to the program.
(The Finger Lakes Association is a coalition of
counties that acquired Local Assistance funds
from the State Budget to perform aquatic













    PROGRAM OBJECTIVES                             its sixth year in 1989 and includes 150 sites    START-UP DATE
        Ohio's Scenic River Stream Quality         on the ten State-designated Scenic Rivers.     1983
    Monitoring Program has two primary objec-      Each monitoring group is assigned one or       SAMPLING SITES
    tives. The first is to educate citizens about the  more sampling locations. A member of the   10 Rivers, 150 sites
    importance of stream biology, particularly     Scenic River Program staff spends several    (1989)
    macroinvertebrates, as a measure of stream     hours training each group in the proper
    quality. The second is to develop and main-    sampling technique and identification proce    Biological monitoring
    tain a base of information to evaluate long    dures.                                         (benthic macroinverte-
    term changes in river quality. The program         Since the inception of the program in    brates)
    centers around the hands-on involvement of     1983, approximately 50% of the original vol-
    citizens in the collection and identification of    unteers are still involved in the program. A  SAMPLING FREQ.
betiParonetbaeaswlash 2 to 5 surveys annually
    benthic macroinvertebrates as well as the      number of those seasonal volunteers are now    betweenAprilandOcto-
    calculation of a simple stream quality index   beginning to request additional responsibili-  ber
    value. The biomonitoring procedures, which     ties. As a result, State staff are considering an
    can be quickly and easily performed, are       expansion of the program to include some       NO.VOLUNTEERS
    within the understanding of individuals in     chemical monitoring. John Kopec, the pro-      Approximately 5000
    nearly any age group, and, as such, are not    gram supervisor, believes that volunteer tasks  ADMINISTRATION
    designed to pinpoint subtle shifts in water    must increase somewhat in complexity and       Administered bythe State
    quality.                                       number to maintain volunteer interest.         Scenic Rivers Program
        Unlike many other programs, the Ohio                                                      and funded through a
                                                                                                    State tax refund check-off
    citizen monitoring effort is administered by a  SAMPLING PROTOCOL                             and general revenues
                                                                                                    and general revenues.
    State agency that does not regulate water          Ohio's volunteer monitoring program was    Several State and re-
    quality. The program is managed by the Ohio    adapted from procedures outlined in the    gional staff devote part of
    Department of Natural Resources (ODNR),        national Izaak Walton League's Save Our        their time to the program,
    Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, as a  Streams Program. Various techniques were       along with part-time sea-
                                                                                                    sonal employees.
    component of Ohio's Scenic River Program.      tested and modified to develop an approach
    Monitoring results are shared periodically     that is easy to learn and which may be         STATE CONTACT
    with the Ohio Environmental Protection         implemented by a wide range of age groups.     John Kopec, Ohio Depart-
    Agency (OEPA), the agency empowered to             Each volunteer group is supplied with a    ment of Natural Re-
                                                                                                    sources, Scenic Rivers
    regulate water quality, as well as local health  net, a manual that describes sampling meth-  Section, Fountain Square
    departments. The Agency may investigate        ods, identification sheet ofmacroinvertebrate  Columbus, OH 43224
    sites where severe degradation is indicated.   taxa, and a set of forms for recording obser-  (614) 265-6458
                                                    vations and analyses. Using the information
    VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND                      they have collected, volunteers develop a
    TRAINING                                       qualitative index of stream quality based on
        Ohio Scenic River staff maintain an        the overall diversity of indicator species col-
    aggressive volunteer recruitment effort that   lected. This index was cooperatively devel-
    includes Statewide newspaper advertising,      oped by the OEPA and the Ohio Scenic Rivers
    television spots, and direct mailings. Cur-    Program.
    rently, close to 5,000 volunteers participate      The volunteers perform the "kick seine"
    in 150 monitoring groups. Program person-      technique described in the program hand-
    nel constantly work to expand the partici-     book. The seine net is stretched across the
    pant pool by working with numerous organi-     downstream edge of a riffle area measuring
    zations, including garden clubs, Big Brothers  approximately 3 feet by 3 feet. The monitors
    and Sisters, Grange associations, conserva-    pick up all stream bed materials two inches
    tion groups, wastewater treatment plant        or larger in the sample area and brush aquatic
    operators, and schools. Numerous organiza-     insects and other organisms into the seine
    tions have incorporated environmental pro-     net. Then a volunteer thoroughly kicks up
    tection into their goals, and welcome the      the bottom substrate to dislodge burrowing
    opportunity to participate in the stream       organisms. The captured organisms are iden-
    monitoring program. At the present time,       tified and the volunteers calculate a cumula-
    volunteer interest exceeds the capacity of the  tive index value based upon the variety of
    program, primarily because the program is    collected taxa indicating excellent, good, fair,
    restricted to the ten State-designated Scenic  or poor stream quality (Figure 1). Groups are
    Rivers. Budgetary limitations on staff time    encouraged to collect more than one sample
    and equipment acquisition also are a limiting  at a site and consolidate the results. If poor
    factor regarding program expansion.            water quality is indicated, the volunteers
        Ohio's citizen monitoring program began    may work upstream in search of a source,













                     although time constraints usually prevent     comparisons of volunteer and OEPA data are
                     this procedure. All results are recorded on an  performed whenever possible. For example,
                     assessment form and mailed either to the      citizen monitors and OEPApersonnel sampled
                     regional stream monitoring coordinator or     side by side downstream from an industrial
                     the Scenic River Program Central Office.      operation that was permitted to release a
                         Most groups sample between two and        large volume of waste (prior to closing) in
                     five times a year, primarily between April and  1987. The two data sets compared favorably.
                     October when river flow and temperature           To date, the citizen monitoring data has
                     conditions are conducive to sampling. Al-     revealed only a few instances of poor stream
                     though a standard monitoring schedule has     quality (septic tank failures, sewage treat-
                     not been implemented for the program as a     ment plant overflows, and an industrial waste
                     whole, priority stations have been estab-     discharge were suspected sources). However,
                     lished which are sampled at least three times  this is understandable as the program is
                     a year with one sample performed by the       limited to designated Scenic Rivers which by
                     Scenic Rivers Program staff. Priority stations  definition possess a high water quality rat-
                     are selected to correspond with OEPA sites,    ing. Nevertheless, the primary objective of
                     to monitor upstream and downstream of    the program is being fulfilled: to develop
FIGURE 1            point source discharges, to provide for easy   awareness, understanding and appreciation
                     access and accommodations, and to evenly      of stream ecology, while permitting the aver-
Ouality Monitoring  distribute sampling stations along each Sce-   age citizen hands-on involvementwith stream
Program Stream Quality  nic River. Additional quality control meas-  resource protection.
Assessment Form.    ures have not been formalized, but ad hoc
                                                                     DATA MANAGEMENT
                                                                         The information from data sheets sub-
                                                                     mitted to ODNR is entered into a computer
                                                                     data base for use in the preparation of reports
                                                                     and possibly trend analysis in the future. The
 STATION OR 16.3  STREAM Olentanqy River     SAMPLE 9 1
                                                                     stored data include the estimated count cate-
 LOCATION L K Riffle                                 :;            gory for each species identified, the total
 COUNTY Delaware   TOWNSHIP/CITY Delaware  DATE 5-1-88   TIME 2:00 pa,.  number of taxa collected, the Cumulative
 GROUP OR
 INDIVIDUALS  The Oliver Bailey reuo    N. O PARTICIPANS  2        Index Value, and the Stream Quality Rating
 DESCRIBE WATER CONDITIONS (COLOR, ODOR, BEDGROWTHS,   HACH KIT RESULTS (if used) D  for each sampling period at each site (Figure
 SURFACE SCUM, ETC.)                  OTHER OBSERVATIONS           1). Statistical analysis is not performed be-
 Slightly muddy; heavy bottom growth.                             cause the data lack the technical refinement
 No odor.
                             USE BACK No odor.  I                  necessary to analyze benthic macroinverte-
                             J~SE BACK OF  FORK IF NECESSARY]       brate population fluctuations. Trends may
 WIDTH OF RIFFLE 40'    BED COMPOSITION OF RIFFLE ()               be revealed after a sufficient data base has
                                                                     be revealed after a sufficient data base has
 WATER DEPTH B, to ID SILT E   SAND    0    GRAVEL (."_- z) [      been acquired. Raw data indicating unusual
 WATER TEMP. (ï¿½F) 64    COBBLES (2"- l"') EI  BOULDERS (> 10")  El water quality conditions are shared with the
       MACROINVERTEERATE            ESTIMATED          I to  OEPA, who determines if the conditions
                                     ESTIMATED COUNT  B 10 to 99
               TALLY                LETTER CODE    C = 100 r more  warrant further investigation.

     GUIP 1 TAXA    ~    GnXP 2 TAMA
                     GrP 1 T~~A    Lr  GRP 2 T1WPROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
 WATER PENNY LARVAE  A DAMSELFLY NYMPHS  RI ACKF Y I ARVAF        PROGRAM AD
  MAYFLY NYMPHS    A DRAGONFLY NYMPHS    AOUATIC WORMS     A           The citizen monitoring program is run
  STONER TY NYMPHS  A CRANE FLY LARVAE   MIDGE LARVAE
  DONSONFLY LARVAE  A BEETLE LARVAE      POUCH SNAILS              largely by ODNRpersonnel as a component of
  CAUouISLY LAKVAt  c RAYFsH             IFFCr.HF
  RIFFLE BEETLE ADULT    a SClnS                                   the State Scenic Rivers Program in the Divi-
  OTHER SNAILS    a   rlM AM
                      sTWsuGs                                      sion of Natural Areas and Preserves. The
       NUMBER OF TAXA  7   NUMBER OF TAXA      NUMBER OF TAXA      Scenic River Program Planning Supervisor
          (tmual             lt(em                ItimeA*
        INDEX VALUE 3  21  INDEX VALUE 2  2      NDEX VALUE 1  1   coordinates the program and is responsible
                                                                     for interagency coordination and communi-
         CUMULATIVE       STREAM QUALITY ASSESSMENT                cation with the federal government, manag-
         INDEX VALUE     EXCELLENT (> 22)   GOOD (17-22) ]         ing the program funds, setting program poli-
            24   I        FAIR (11-16)   ]  POOR (< u) []          cies, and writing the annual reports. The
                                                                     planning supervisor oversees four seasonal
  PLEASE SEND THIS FORM TO:    Mr. John S. Kopec, Planning Supervisor  employees who work approximately 20 hours
                        Division of Natural Areas and Preserves
                        Ohio Scenic Rivers Program                  a week between April and October, training
                        1889 Fountain Square Court
                        Columbus, Ohio 43224   Phone: (614) 265-6458  and maintaining contact with the volunteers.
                                                                     Additional assistance is given by a staff of













four Scenic River regional coordinators.        SELECTED PROGRAM MATERIALS
   An annual report describing the citizen     Stream Quality Monitoring: A Citizen Action
monitoring results is mailed to key members       Program. Ohio Department of Natural Re-
of each participating organization, and let-      sources, Division of Natural Areas and
ters of recognition are also sent to volunteers.  Preserves. Undated. 20 pages.This instruc-
While the Ohio program does not produce a         tion manual covers basic sampling meth-
regular volunteer newsletter, local media         ods and provides a taxonomic key to
coverage of volunteer projects is actively        stream-dwelling macroinvertebrates.
pursued to provide additional recognition for
the participants.                               Ohio Scenic Rivers Stream Quality Monitoring
   The Scenic River Program staff are inves-     PrograrmAnnualReport 1989Results. Ohio
tigating expansion of the volunteer monitor-      Department of Natural Resources, Division
ing program through assistance to Ohio Soil       of Natural Areas and Preserves. 58 pages.
and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD's).
Six SWCD's are currently involved with lo-
cally administering stream quality monitor-
ing. The current program supervisor envi-
sions the Scenic River Program maintaining
its monitoring program on Scenic Rivers, but
also training other agencies to expand citizen
monitoring to streams outside of the Scenic
River Program's jurisdiction.
   The citizen monitoring program is pri-
marily funded with general State revenues
and a natural areas State income tax refund
check-off program. The 1988 budget totalled
approximately $55,000. Costs for the pro-
gram are distributed as follows: the Scenic
River planning supervisor allocates approxi-
mately 50% of his time to the volunteer
monitoring program, at a cost of approxi-
mately $15,000. Four regional Scenic River
Coordinators spend 10-15% of their time
between April and October assisting the vol-
unteer program at a cost of approximately
$16,000. Four part-time seasonal stream
monitoring coordinators are paid $18,000.
Four thousand dollars are allocated for travel
expenses. Overhead office and report print-
ing costs are not included in the budget.
Annual equipment costs average $2,000. The
tax-refund monies support the salaries and
travel expenses of the seasonal stream moni-
toring coordinators. All other expenses are
funded by general State revenues, and occa-
sional donations.












START-UP DATE        PROGRAM OBJECTIVES                               nearshore water quality compared to mid-
1985                     The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay,         channel water quality in tidal tributaries is
SAMPLING SITES       Inc. (ACB) began a pilot water quality testing   planned. The data will also be used in the
10 Rivers, 60+ sites    project for volunteers in July 1985 as one of  verification of an interpolation model ofwater
(1989)               the activities funded under its Chesapeake       quality in major tributaries to the Bay.
                     Bay Program public participation grant from         The data can also be used to look at
TIDAL AREAS: Air and  USEPA. The project was designed to answer       correlations between certain measured vari-
water temperature, Sec-    four questions which were addressed in the  ables, such as low dissolved oxygen, and the
chi disk depth and total    "Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Pro-   frequency of observed events, such as fish
depth, salinity, pH, dis-    gram Report, July 1985 - October 1988":  kills and algae blooms. It should be possible
solvedoxygen,ammonia,     1. Can citizens collect water quality data  to identify which sites provide for particular
precipitation, field obser-
vations of water condi-    that meet rigorous quality control standards?  living resources habitats and attempt to link
tions and color, weather,  2. Do data collected at nearshore loca-    their character with water quality indicators.
general condition of site.    tions reflect water quality in the river gener-  It would also be useful to evaluate the feasi-
NONTIDAL AREAS: Air    ally? Such shallow, nearshore waters are       bility of using the citizen monitoring data set
and water temperature,    increasingly recognized for their importance  to determine the data collection frequency
turbidity, river height, pre-
cipitation, nitrate, dis-    as living resources habitats.            optimal for time series of water quality indi-
solved oxygen, field ob-  3. What are the most reliable sampling      cators.
servations.          procedures, reporting formats, and data
SAMPLING             management systems for a volunteer pro-          VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT
FREQUENCY            gram?                                            AND TRAINING
Weekly year round.       4. Is it feasible to include a permanent,        Wheneverpossible, volunteers are sought
                      Bay-wide citizen monitoring network among       who live on or near the water. Recruitment
NO. VOLUNTEERS       the long-term Bay management strategies of       letters are sent to individuals and organiza-
60+-some sites are   the State and Federal governments?               tions that have an interest in water quality or
shared by 1-3 volunteers.
                          A major objective of this program was to    in monitoring. This includes The Sierra Club,
ADMINISTRATION       demonstrate that citizen volunteers can col-     The Audubon Society, The League of Women
Administered by the Alli-    lect water quality data that meet rigorous  Voters, Soil Conservation District Commit-
ance for the Chesapeake  quality control standards. Data collected by  tees, river basin and civic associations,
Bay, Inc. (ACB) under the
guidance of the Monitor-    volunteers were compared to data collected  maritime businesses, etc. An effort is made to
ing Subcommittee to the    by State agency staff at nearby monitoring  involve different user groups, such as com-
Implementation Commit-  stations. Figure 1.4, Chapter 1, shows dis-   mercial and recreational fisherman, marina
tee of the Chesapeake  solved oxygen concentrations in surface water  owners, boating clubs, etc. Extensive follow-
Bay Program. Funded  samples at a volunteer-monitored, nearshore      up by telephone is necessary to find people
with grants from USEPA,
Region IIIl and NOAA,  site and at a Virginia Water Control Board     who are willing to participate.
Coastal Zone Manage-  monitoring station located in the mid-chan-         The volunteers initially attend a 3-hour
ment Program grants to    nel of the river about one mile apart. Inspec-  training session. These sessions include the
the states of Virginia and    tion of the data plots indicated that both the  viewing of an introductory slide show and
Maryland. Private dona-
tionshaveprovidedfunds    volunteer-collected data and the State moni-  explanation of the need for the data to be
for dissolved oxygen kits.    toring data represent similar water quality  collected. This is followed by a demonstration
                      conditions (Wastler 1987).                      of the test procedures.
PROGRAM                  Based on method comparisons and data             Two quality control (QC) sessions per
CONTACTS
KathleeCONTACTS      results, the Implementation Committee of         year are conducted by the monitoring coordi-
Kathleen Ellett, Citizen
Monitoring Director and  the Chesapeake Bay Program endorsed the      nator.  QC sessions follow two basic ap-
Gayla Campbell, Mary-  incremental expansion of the Citizen Moni-     proaches: 1) volunteers test the same water
land Citizen Monitoring    toring Program. The Committee has instructed  with their equipment in the way they do it
Coordinator, ACB, 410    its relevant subcommittees to report on ways  onsite; 2) volunteers read/record laboratory
Severn Avenue, Suite
110, Annapolis, MD   citizen monitoring data can be used to pro-      standards. Their results then provide a
21403. (301) 266-6873.  vide a better understanding of the status of  measure of how well they perform as a group
Billy Mills, Virginia Citizen    the quality of the nearshore habitat.  and how precisely they measure the water
Monitoring Coordinator,  A preliminary comparison of data col-        quality indicators being tested.
Richm, P.O. Box 1981  lected from all the volunteer monitored sites
Richmond, VA 23216
804-775-0951.        and by State agency staff indicated that         SAMPLING PROTOCOL
                      patterns of differences between the citizen         Sites were not preselected for this volun-
                      monitoring sites and state monitoring sta-      tary program. However, State monitoring
                      tions occurred frequently enough to suggest     program coordinators in Maryland, Virginia,
                      that they may reflect actual conditions (Ellett,  and Pennsylvania were consulted to deter-
                      et al. 1989). A more thorough analysis of       mine suitable locations. The following crite-



              Property of CSC Library


                  VOLUNTEER WATER
                  MONITORING:

                 A Guide
                  For State
                  Managers


U.S  DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NOAA
COASTAL SERVICES CENTER
2234 SOUTH HOBSON AVENUE
CHARLESTON, SC 29405-2413












                 'N

                    e , 0atenrRegulations and Standards
                    es    nt  an Watershed
         ctt
                   shin    .D.    0460


          iN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,B












    This document was prepared under coopera-

tive agreement #CX81 3519-03-0 from the U.S. Envi-

ronmental Protection Agency, Office of Water

Regulations and Standards, Assessment and

Watershed Protection Division, to the Alliance for

the Chesapeake Bay, Inc. Additional support was

provided by Research Triangle Institute.

    The EPA project officers were Alice Mayio and

Meg Kerr. Principal authors were Kathleen Ellett

and Alice Mayio. The authors would like to thank

the many reviewers who provided helpful com-

ments on the content and organization of this

guide; the State coordinators whose volunteer

programs are described in the Appendix; and

EPA's Office of Marine and Estuarine Protection,

which assisted in the publication of this document.

NOTICE: This document has been reviewed
in accordance with U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency policy and approved for
publication. Mention of trade names or
commercial products does not constitute
endorsement or recommendation for use.











                    FORIEWORD


Citizen volunteer monitoring is a relatively new development in
the water quality assessment and management field. In a
growing number of cases, States have recognized the value of
volunteers and have begun to sponsor them in the collection
of high quality baseline and screening data.

We at EPA encourage this partnership between State agencies
and citizen volunteers. EPA has prepared this guide for State
managers because of the benefits of volunteer monitoring both
as a source of credible data and as a public education tool
that encourages a sense of stewardship for our water
resources.

This document cannot claim to be more than a guide. Specific
approaches will vary depending on the type of waters to be
assessed, the parameters to be monitored, and the amount of
resources the State is able to commit to the program.
Nevertheless, this guide should help new programs build on
the experiences of successful, established programs and avoid
any pitfalls they may have encountered. We also hope that
this guide will help improve existing volunteer programs and
spark interest in States that have not yet made plans to work
with citizen volunteers.






                               Martha G. Prothro
                               Director, Office of Water
                               Regulations and Standards
                               U.S. EPA,
                               Washington, D.C.













ria were used to select sites:                      Monitors report weekly accumulated
    1. stations should be equally divided in   rainfall if they can install a rain gage near the
lower estuarine, riverine-estuarine transi-     site. Rain gages are not installed at sites that
tion and tidal fresh zones of tidal rivers;     are not on private property because they
    2. stations should be located above and     might be vandalized. In addition, information
below the mouth of any significant tributary    on weather and general observations about
running into the river;                         the site (live or dead organisms, debris, oil
    3. stations should be above and below       slicks, ice, odor, water color, anything un-
major construction sites and wastewater         usual) are recorded on a Data Collection
treatment plants;                               Form and sent to the project coordinator.
    4. stations should be near a farm or            Monitors on the Conestoga River in
animal holding facility that is instituting best  Pennsylvania record air and water tempera-
management practices;                           ture, river height at most sites, water color
    5. several stations should be nearshore    and weather conditions and weekly accumu-
opposite a State water quality monitoring      lated rainfall. They test for dissolved oxygen
station to allow for more direct comparison of  and nitrate-nitrogen using a color compara-
data sets.                                      tor kit. They also record turbidity using a
    Data quality is a key aspect of the Che-   visual comparison method based on the
sapeake Bay Program. A Quality Assurance       Jackson candle turbidity column with re-
Project Plan (QAPjP) was prepared for the      suits reported in Jackson turbidity units
volunteer program and accepted by the           (JTU) which correspond to nephelometric
Chesapeake Bay Program Quality Assurance        turbidity units (NTU).
Officer (QAO) (CBCMP 1987). Initial testing of     Volunteers on the Patuxent River began
volunteer methods was conducted at the EPA      taking samples for laboratory analysis of
Central Regional Laboratory, Annapolis, MD      nutrients in late 1989 and volunteers in
under the supervision of the CBP QAO and        selected locations in Virginia rivers will begin
various other chemists and technicians. The     nutrient sample-taking in 1990. Virginia vol-
selected tests were written up in a "Citizen   unteers survey their sites for the presence of
Monitoring Manual" specifically designed for    common wildlife for the State's Department
this program (Ellett 1986).                     of Game and Inland Fisheries as part of the
    Instruments and methods were chosen        U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Multi-State
based on simplicity of use, cost, and accu-     Fish and Wildlife Information Systems Proj-
racy. Every possible effort was made to use     ect. Volunteers assist in groundtruthing of
methods that were comparable to those          the submerged aquatic vegetation aerial pho-
employed by the CBP Monitoring Program.         tographic survey each year. They also esti-
Where methods were necessarily different,       mate population density of jellyfish species
methods comparison tests were performed         during the summer months.
and the degree of comparability was deter-
mined. The units reported are the same as      DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS
those used in the CBP Monitoring Program.           Data are reported on a Data Collection
    Volunteer monitors collect data and         Form supplied to the volunteer monitors. See
samples once a week year round. Surface         Figure 3.3, Chapter 3 for an example form.
water samples are obtained in a bucket from    The monitors are instructed to make a copy
the water's edge, a dock or pier and, in a few  of the form and to send the original to the co-
instances, from a boat.                         ordinator every two weeks in supplied enve-
    In the standard tidal waters program,       lopes. They keep a copy to guard against loss
five water quality parameters are measured      in the mail and to facilitate discussion of later
at each site: water and air temperature; pH     questions about data reported. They may use
using color comparator kits; Secchi disk depth  carbon paper or photocopy the original for
and water depth; salinity using hydrometers;   their own records. Data are keypunched by
and dissolved oxygen (DO) using micro-Win-      Chesapeake Bay Computer Center (CBPCC)
kler titration kits (two samples are titrated at  personnel by running a Fortran data entry
each sampling time). Color comparator kits     program. The raw data file is used as input to
are used to test for ammonia in the tidal fresh  a Statistical Analysis System (SAS) program
zone of the James River in Virginia. The water  which creates a data listing by site and
chemistry kits used in this program are         creates plots of the parameters. After the data
manufactured by LaMotte Chemical Prod-          listing has been checked for keypunch and
ucts, Inc.                                      coding errors and corrected by computer












center personnel and the coordinator, a print-  trol activities; have direct contact with volun-
out is sent to each monitor. They are asked to  teers and carry out QC activities; order, cali-
look over the listing and report any errors to  brate and issue replacement equipment and
the coordinator. Verified data are available to  dispense reagent refills.
the public upon request.                           The 1989 budget for direct costs to
                                               manage the CBCMP in three states is ap-
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION                         proximately $112,000. Funding is provided
AND BUDGET                                      by the EPA public participation grant to ACB
   The establishment of a volunteer moni-      and NOAA Coastal Zone Management grants
toring program was suggested in the man-       to Maryland and Virginia that then contract
agement plan that was developed following      with ACB to implement projects in Maryland,
the research phase of the Chesapeake Bay       Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Program funds
Program (USEPA 1980). In response to a         are allocated as follows:
request from the CBP Monitoring Subcom-        Personnel (2 and 1/2 people):     $80,000
mittee, The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay,   Travel:                              8,000
Inc. established an ad hoc committee to ana-   Equipment:                           7,000
lyze and report on the desirability and feasi-
bility of citizen monitoring efforts and to: 
provide specific recommendations. The           raining and Quality Control:           00
committee's proposal was presented to and
accepted by the CBP Implementation Com-        Newsletter:                            700
mittee which determines detailed policy for        EPA provides data management support
the CBP. This committee and its several        and office support for the director and the
subcommittees are made up of representa-       Maryland coordinator. The Virginia Council
tives from the States, the District of Colum-  on the Environment provides office support
bia, and Federal agencies that are signatories  for the Virginia coordinator.
to the CBP Agreement to restore and protect
the Chesapeake Bay.
    A committee of eight Bay managers and      REFERENCES AND SELECTED
scientists worked with the Citizen Monitoring  PROGRAM MATERIALS
Coordinator in setting up the pilot program.   Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc. 1986.
This technical advisory committee reviewed        Citizen Monitoring Manual Baltimore, MD.
the project plans and the protocol manual,
provided technical guidance to the project     Ellett, Kathleen. An Introduction to Water
coordinator as needed, and reviewed and           Quality Monitoring Using Volunteers: A
evaluated results for inclusion in interim        Handbookfor Coordinators. 1988. Alliance
reports.                                          for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc. Baltimore,
    A Citizen Monitoring Workgroup of the         MD.
Monitoring Subcommittee continues to pro-
vide direction to the program managers with    Ellett, Kathleen K., Susan Brunenmeister
input from relevant State agency personnel.       and Ricky H. Price. Chesapeake Bay Citi-
The Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring             zen Monitoring Program Report, July 1985-
Program (CBCMP) began an extensive expan-         October 1988. USEPA CBP/TRS 27/89,
sion in Virginia and Maryland in the spring of    June 1989.
1989. The program director provides over-
sight for the regional program; helps plan     US Environmental ProtectionAgency, Region
and conduct quality control sessions; and         III, Chesapeake Bay Program, 1986. Qual-
prepares and presents reports. The director       ity Assurance Project Plan (QAPjP) for the
also writes and edits the newsletter, River       Chesapeake Bay Citizen Monitoring Pro-
Trends, which is published four times a year      gram USEPA QAMS 1980 Document. An-
and sent to volunteer monitors as well as         napolis, MD.
other interested people.
    ot her intereState citizen monitoring coordina- people.  US Environmental ProtectionAgency, Region
    The State citizen monitoring coordina-
tors carry out day-to-day management of all       III, Chesapeake Bay Program. Chesapeake
projects in their respective states; recruit and  Bay: A FrameworkforAction Appendices.
train volunteer monitors; receive, store and      Philadelphia, PA. 554 pages.
manage data in cooperation with CBPCC
personnel; plan and implement quality con-


                                                  OU.S.GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1990 725-975