Water Watch

Monitoring your waterways!

Have you ever wanted to be part of a Riverkeeping team? Do you have a favorite creek, stream or section of the river that you keep an eye on?

Sound Rivers needs YOU to help us monitor your waterways!

WATCH OUR INTRO TO WATER WATCH VIDEO

Sound Rivers’ Neuse and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeepers need your to help keep an eye on our waterways by signing up for Water Watch, a new community-science program!

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, and since they can’t be everywhere at once, they rely heavily on community members to let them know when things are wrong on the water.

That’s why Water Watch was created: Sound Rivers knows the value of community members who are engaged in keeping your waterways safe. Water Watchers are community scientists that keep an eye on the waterways by collecting basic observational data about river health, which informs your Riverkeepers, in real time, about the condition of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico waterways and flags any pollution concerns.

learn more about water watch training!

Water Watch Trainings

Water Watchers are trained in the field to collect scientific observations about water quality, flooding, erosion, habitat and more. With the help of Water Watch volunteers, your Riverkeepers can monitor and protect more stream miles in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, and help grow a volunteer base of community members who are trained and knowledgeable about water-quality science.

So, what’s it take to be a Water Watcher?

You’ll attend a Water Watch training, where volunteers are trained in the field to collect scientific observations about water quality, flooding, erosion, habitat and more.
You’ll pick a site and visit it at least once a month to collect observational data, using your senses to determine the general health of the waterway and spot potential pollution issues. Do you see blue-green water or an unusual number of dead fish? It could be an algal bloom. Do you smell sewage? It might be a sewage spill.
You’ll fill out a form to share your observations from each visit, then send that form to your Riverkeepers.
We’ll also host quarterly Water Watch meet-ups where you can share your observations with Sound Rivers’ Riverkeepers and other volunteers.

If you are passionate about water quality and looking for a way to give back to your watershed and community, sign up for Water Watch — it’s community-led science in the name of water quality!

View water watch training manual

DOWNLOAD THE FIELD FORM