Citizen Science: Monitoring local water quality - link info for DIY measurement

104 views
Skip to first unread message

Jonathan Cline

unread,
Sep 20, 2012, 2:33:41 AM9/20/12
to diy...@googlegroups.com, jcline
Suddenly very interested in what bacto baddies are growing in the ocean I play in (California coast), I ran across several DIY projects on citizen monitoring for bacterial counts in local rivers/beaches/etc.

And in fact there is a larger push to perform simpler (non-bacto) DIY testing (with kits available) on a larger scale at
http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/ - This may have been mentioned here before:
"World Water Monitoring Challenge™ (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local waterbodies.   .... LaMotte will accept bulk orders of 10 or more kits and ship at the reduced rate of US $1.85 per Basic Kit and US $6.50 per Classroom Kit shipping and handling. The regular rates are US $8.10 and US $10.00 via Priority Mail. "


As for state-sponsored citizen science, California has significant info on what/where/how to do citizen-science water quality testing:


-- begin quote --

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_volunteer.shtml


Clean Water Team (CWT) – Citizen Monitoring

Clean Water Team logoWELCOME!

Our Mission …  “To build and support the State’s Watersheds’ Stewardship through citizen monitoring in order to reduce and prevent water pollution.”

 


Citizen Monitoring
Citizen monitoring is any water quality monitoring activity that relies in whole or in part on participation by volunteers, students or non-paid staff. A variety of organizations may be involved in citizen monitoring projects, including but not limited to non-profit groups, Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), Coordinated Resource Management and Planning (CRMP) groups, local government agencies, and colleges.

About the Clean Water Team
"The Clean Water Team (CWT) is the citizen monitoring program of the State Water Resources Control Board. The CWT is a part of the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP). The CWT Citizen Monitoring Coordinator(s) work statewide in order to provide technical assistance and guidance documents, training, QA/QC support, temporary loans of equipment and communication to citizen monitoring programs and watershed stewardship organizations."

General Information on Citizen Monitoring
"Learn more about citizen monitoring in California and how you can become involved with improving and protecting surface water quality as a citizen scientist."  http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_general_mon.shtml



http://batchgeo.com/map/2012cwtmap

"This map was created by the Clean Water Team to assist the public in locating citizen monitoring programs so that they can become involved in water quality monitoring and watershed stewardship (exclusive of educational programs). We also hope that this map will help facilitate networking and collaborations among water monitoring programs."


-- end quote --


Finally, scroll all the way down to the "Bacteria (Pathogen Indicators)" section in the Field Guides for a pretty good summary of sampling, plating and culturing protocols, "Introduction to Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) IDEXX Methodologies"...  http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_guidance.shtml

I'll get kitted up and post how it goes.


## Jonathan Cline
## jcl...@ieee.org
## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
########################

Nathan McCorkle

unread,
Sep 20, 2012, 1:46:33 PM9/20/12
to diy...@googlegroups.com
For $21.10 per individual kit, shipped... it seems a little high
priced to only get "pH, DO, turbidity and temperature" as results.

https://www.lamotteco.com/secure/wwmday/

Have you seen any good prices on HPLC -like tests? To check for
chemical contamination.

On Sep 20, 2012 2:33 AM, "Jonathan Cline" <jnc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Suddenly very interested in what bacto baddies are growing in the ocean I play in (California coast), I ran across several DIY projects on citizen monitoring for bacterial counts in local rivers/beaches/etc.
>
> And in fact there is a larger push to perform simpler (non-bacto) DIY testing (with kits available) on a larger scale at
> http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/ - This may have been mentioned here before:
> "World Water Monitoring Challenge™ (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local waterbodies. .... LaMotte will accept bulk orders of 10 or more kits and ship at the reduced rate of US $1.85 per Basic Kit and US $6.50 per Classroom Kit shipping and handling. The regular rates are US $8.10 and US $10.00 via Priority Mail. "
>
>
> As for state-sponsored citizen science, California has significant info on what/where/how to do citizen-science water quality testing:
>
>
> -- begin quote --
>
> http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_volunteer.shtml
>
>
> Clean Water Team (CWT) – Citizen Monitoring
>
> WELCOME!
>
> Our Mission … “To build and support the State’s Watersheds’ Stewardship through citizen monitoring in order to reduce and prevent water pollution.”
>
>
>
>
> Citizen Monitoring
> Citizen monitoring is any water quality monitoring activity that relies in whole or in part on participation by volunteers, students or non-paid staff. A variety of organizations may be involved in citizen monitoring projects, including but not limited to non-profit groups, Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), Coordinated Resource Management and Planning (CRMP) groups, local government agencies, and colleges.
>
> About the Clean Water Team
> "The Clean Water Team (CWT) is the citizen monitoring program of the State Water Resources Control Board. The CWT is a part of the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP). The CWT Citizen Monitoring Coordinator(s) work statewide in order to provide technical assistance and guidance documents, training, QA/QC support, temporary loans of equipment and communication to citizen monitoring programs and watershed stewardship organizations."
>
> General Information on Citizen Monitoring
> "Learn more about citizen monitoring in California and how you can become involved with improving and protecting surface water quality as a citizen scientist." http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_general_mon.shtml
>
>
>
> http://batchgeo.com/map/2012cwtmap
>
> "This map was created by the Clean Water Team to assist the public in locating citizen monitoring programs so that they can become involved in water quality monitoring and watershed stewardship (exclusive of educational programs). We also hope that this map will help facilitate networking and collaborations among water monitoring programs."
>
>
> -- end quote --
>
>
> Finally, scroll all the way down to the "Bacteria (Pathogen Indicators)" section in the Field Guides for a pretty good summary of sampling, plating and culturing protocols, "Introduction to Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) IDEXX Methodologies"... http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/cwt_guidance.shtml
>
> I'll get kitted up and post how it goes.
>
>
> ## Jonathan Cline
> ## jcl...@ieee.org
> ## Mobile: +1-805-617-0223
> ########################
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
> To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/diybio/-/E0V1ogOX5HQJ.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>

Jason Bobe

unread,
Sep 21, 2012, 9:10:50 AM9/21/12
to diy...@googlegroups.com, jcline
On Thursday, September 20, 2012 2:33:41 AM UTC-4, Jonathan Cline wrote:
Suddenly very interested in what bacto baddies are growing in the ocean I play in (California coast), I ran across several DIY projects on citizen monitoring for bacterial counts in local rivers/beaches/etc.


See also the "Klein Wasser Sensor" via the Little Devices Group at MIT:
 
Anna Young has many cool projects, including the "solarclave":

Jason

General Oya

unread,
Oct 12, 2012, 12:14:58 AM10/12/12
to diy...@googlegroups.com
Great Project.. I wonder if there is any early warning for the pfisteria bugs. Those dinoflagelletes have been real issue here and south of here.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/diybio/-/uJ80b_9thrgJ.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages