News

Another Water Watch training is in the books, and a new group of Water Watchers is prepared to get to work, looking out for your waterways.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop, Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman, Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register and Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz met up with people from across the watersheds at the Perrytown Community Center in New Bern last week for the fourth Water Watch training in an ongoing series.

“We had a great turnout,” Samantha said. “Folks came from far away to attend this training, and we are so grateful for the Perrytown Community Center for sharing their really sweet community-oriented place right on Brices Creek.”

Previous trainings were in held in April in Oriental and Blounts Creek, followed by those in Washington and New Bern last week.

Samantha said last week’s Water Watch trainings were a huge success.

“There was a lot of interest in the content we shared, and a lot of interest in signing up for sites — several people signed up to monitor more than one, so that was very cool,” she said. “I’m always surprised at how into the nitty-gritty people want to get. We try to make the information we’re sharing accessible, but people want to dig deeper. People are interested in nerding-out on the science.”

She said she and the other Water Watch team members are enjoying the give and take of each training.

“There are a lot of experts in various backgrounds in the room, which is great,” Samantha said. “So, they’re bringing their own knowledge to share with us, too.”

Sound Rivers’ Water Watch is a science-based program in which community members volunteer to help keep an eye on the waterways by collecting basic observational data about river health. The data gathered informs your Riverkeepers, in real time, about the condition of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico waterways and flags any pollution concerns.

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. Water Watch was created because, 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.

Future trainings are scheduled in Kinston on Nov. 5 and Greenville on Nov. 6; in 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.

Like the work your Riverkeeping team is doing? So do we! Donate today to support programs like Water Watch!