Volunteer monitoring can be a tremendous asset to water quality and quantity protection and restoration efforts. While volunteers contribute their efforts to these citizen science initiatives for “free,” these cost-effective programs require a great deal of planning and ongoing management. Luckily, many resources have been developed over time that can be shared among programs, helping to build a strong volunteer water monitoring citizen science community across the US and beyond.
A “Guide for Growing Volunteer Monitoring Programs” was developed to help direct program coordinators to many of these useful resources. The Guide is set up as a series of modules (that are chock full of external links) that can be used alone or in conjunction with other sections depending upon the needs of individual programs. Use the links below to access the various modules:
- Getting Started (235 KB pdf file) – updated 2020
- Why Volunteer Monitoring Makes Sense (582 KB pdf file)
- Designing Your Monitoring Strategy (1.6 MB pdf file)
- Monitoring Matrix (80 KB pdf file)
- Effective Training (856 KB pdf file)
- Monitoring Equipment Suppliers (63 KB pdf file)
- Building Credibility: Quality Assurance and Quality Control for Volunteer Monitoring Programs (942 KB pdf file)
- Volunteer Management (1 MB pdf file) – updated 2020
- Planning Your Program’s Data Management System (560 KB pdf file)
- Tips and Tools for Effective Presentations (541 KB pdf file)
- Outreach Tools (464 KB pdf file)
- Locating Support and Funding (1.6 MB pdf file) – updated 2019
- Introduction to Bacteria Monitoring (518 KB pdf file)
- Methods for Monitoring Bacteria in Surface Waters (1 MB pdf file)
- Presenting Bacteria Monitoring Data Effectively (522 KB pdf file)
- Evaluating Your Volunteer Monitoring Program (423 KB pdf file)