News

A Water Watch training in Greenville has resulted in seven more sites being monitored along the Tar-Pamlico River and its tributaries.

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register held the latest in the series of trainings at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation last Thursday.

“We had seven people register, but 11 actually showed up,” Katey said. “It was a good, small group, and everyone was asking questions during the presentation. I was happy to see that there were a couple of younger folks that attended and were really excited about the program.”

Since the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds cover a lot of land and water — two rivers, 928,052 acres of estuary, 5,909 miles of streams and 21,423 acres of freshwater lakes across 12,210 square miles of North Carolina — Sound Rivers’ Riverkeepers have a lot of watershed to pay attention to. While they can’t be everywhere at once, they can rely on community members to let them know when things are wrong on the water.

The science-based, monitoring program invites volunteers to help keep an eye on the waterways by collecting basic observational data about a specific waterway’s health once a month. That data is then uploaded through Sound Rivers’ new Water Watch dashboard, which informs the Riverkeeping team, in real time, about the condition of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico waterways and flags any pollution concerns.

Katey said after last week’s training, new Water Watchers signed on to monitor Greens Mill Run, the Tar River downstream of Town Common, Fishing Creek in Oxford—the first upper Tar site added to the Water Watch list—Tranters Creek, Tarboro Riverfront Park, Sidney Creek in Chocowinity and Chicod Creek at Mobley’s Bridge Road.

The Water Watch team now consists of 40 volunteers monitoring 50 locations in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds.

Future trainings are scheduled for Tarboro and Goldsboro in February 2026 and in Oxford and the Triangle area April 2026.

For more information about the Water Watch program, visit the Water Watch page (and watch the introductory video!). To sign up to get alerts about future trainings, visit our Water Watch trainings page here.

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