News

Sound Rivers’ newest program, Water Watch, is paying off with an army of volunteers helping Sound Rivers keep eyes on the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico.

“Melinda Vann is one of our Water Watch volunteers in the Blounts Creek area. She visits Blounts Bay, Cotton Patch Landing and Pamlico Sea Base once a month to collect qualitative water-quality observations, fill out a data sheet, and take photos,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.

Sound Rivers’ Water Watchers have been trained in the field to collect scientific observations about water quality, flooding, erosion, habitat and more, which allows the Riverkeeping team to monitor and protect more stream miles in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds. Well-attended Water Watch trainings were held in April in Oriental and Blounts Creek, and now results are pouring in.

Katey referred to Melinda’s reports as the “gold standard” of Water Watching, meeting or exceeding level of detail needed by the Riverkeeping team.

“Having an accurate and detailed report is the best way for our team to understand the conditions of the site and be alerted to any potential problem,” Katey said. “It also limits our need to bug our volunteers with additional questions in the case we need more details to report a pollution incident!”

A “gold standard” report includes pertinent details in the observations section of the data sheet; labeled photos to help the team understand exactly what they’re looking and where; photos that picture the larger site, as well as close shots illustrating details mentioned in the observations.

“One other thing that was great to see was in the Cotton Patch data sheet where she noted that she saw a small oily film and referenced the ‘poke’ test which was taught in the training and in the handbook for how to identify synthetic versus organic oil sheens,” Katey said. “So, it’s just great to know that our training materials are being utilized the way we had hoped! All in all, this was a 10-out-of-10 report and a great example of what we hope to see from our volunteers.”

The Riverkeeping team is holding more Water Watch trainings in August, this time in Washington and New Bern.

Learn more about the Water Watch program here.

Join the Water Watch team!

Sign up for the Washington Water Watch training on Aug. 20, 5:30 – 7 p.m.

Sign up for the New Bern training on Aug. 21, 5:30 – 7 p.m.