For Immediate Release
Watersheds United Vermont
Contact: Lyn Munno, [email protected], (802) 585-3569
February 26, 2021
Grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation Trains Watershed Groups and Conservation Districts in Targeted Water Quality Monitoring Data Analysis
Watersheds United Vermont (WUV) received a Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) grant to provide one-on-one training to groups throughout the state to improve their water quality monitoring programs. This “train-the-trainer” grant provided groups an opportunity to dive deeper into their water quality monitoring data to better address water quality concerns in their watershed and provide education and outreach to their communities on the health of local rivers and streams.
Watershed groups, Natural Resources Conservation Districts and other partners conduct regular water quality monitoring of Vermont’s rivers, streams and lakes throughout the state to measure nutrients and pollutants including phosphorus, nitrogen, chloride, and bacteria. These groups have expertise in water quality monitoring programs and have provided invaluable data throughout the years (and in some cases decades) on the health of Vermont’s rivers, streams, and lakes. Many of these groups have partnered with DEC to receive funding for lab analysis through DEC’s La Rosa Partnership Program.
Water quality issues are complex and data results are impacted by time of year, flow, sampling frequency, measuring techniques, sampling locations and other factors. Through this grant, WUV worked with two consultants to provide one-on-one training support for groups to work through some of these complexities. This training model allowed the consultants to work directly with groups on their particular data sets and to tailor the training to a group’s level of knowledge and organizational needs. The consultants assisted groups in reviewing existing data, answering questions related to data trends, developing goals for water quality monitoring work, validating existing sampling designs, and creating opportunities for future program designs.
WUV was fortunate to work with two consultants with expertise in water quality data analysis and with a clear understanding of community-based watershed organizations in the state. Becky Tharp of Just Water Consulting and Kristen Underwood of South Mountain Research & Consulting worked over the past year and a half to provide training for ten groups throughout the state – Friends of the Mad River, Friends of the Winooski River, the Addison County River Watch Collaborative, Franklin Natural Resources Conservation District, Williston Conservation Commission, Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District, Missisquoi River Basin Association, Connecticut River Conservancy, Lewis Creek Association, and the Black River Action Team.
This training support allowed groups to more fully explore their data and to ensure their water quality monitoring programs fit their organizational needs and goals as well as those of the Vermont DEC. The La Rosa Partnership Program had a year hiatus during 2020; for 2021, DEC has restructured the program such that DEC will conduct most of the program design and analysis. The consultants and groups worked to pivot their programs to adjust to the new state model.
In culmination, WUV hosted a webinar with 38 people in attendance including the grant recipients and other groups who are part of the La Rosa Partnership Program. Becky Tharp and Kristen Underwood provided a summary of the work under the train-the-trainer grant and lessons learned. The consultants shared practical options for groups to adjust their programs to continue water quality monitoring and highlighted some do-it-yourself sampling methods. Bethany Sargent, DEC Monitoring and Assessment Program Manager, also provided an overview on how DEC utilizes the La Rosa Program data and the other types of monitoring data that DEC collects and utilizes to evaluate water quality. Bethany also shared a summary of the changes in the La Rosa program and how groups can best work with DEC on water quality monitoring in 2021.
WUV is thankful to the DEC for the opportunity. This targeted water quality monitoring data analysis training will allow groups to reach out to their communities on water quality issues in the watershed and work towards our shared clean water goals. As Lindsey Wight of the Missisquoi River Basin Association said, “We were able to envision a different layer of water quality monitoring that better engages both volunteers and landowners, and helps to connect people to real-time data and real-time actions.”