[Watersheds] Blackstone Watershed Group Seeking Volunteer Monitors

[Panciera, Ernie (DEM)]

[cid:image002.png at 01D3BBA3.EECA8730]Contact: Susan Thomas        (508)471-0988         acadia94 at zoho.com

Press Release: For immediate release
Watershed Group Seeking Volunteer Monitors



2/23/18...The Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone (BRWC/FOB) is seeking volunteers to assist with its 15th year of water quality monitoring of 17 sites in the Rhode Island region of the watershed.  Field monitors are needed to sample two sites in Burrillville: the Chepatchet River on Gazza Road, and the Clear River off Rt. 102. A third volunteer is needed to monitor the Mill River at Privilege Street in Woonsocket. Additional volunteers are needed who can serve as "floaters" to cover sites on an "as needed" basis.  Fieldwork not your thing?  Come volunteer in the water-testing lab, which is located at the North Cumberland Fire Station on Arnold Mills Rd.



The BRWC/FOB is a member organization of the Blackstone River Coalition, which recruits and trains citizen scientists to participate in the Coalition's watershed-wide volunteer water quality monitoring program.  The goal of this long-running program is to gather information about the current status of, and long-term changes in, the health of the Blackstone River watershed.  This information helps local policy makers, state officials, and concerned citizens make the Blackstone River cleaner for people and wildlife.


Over 90 volunteers work with the BRC's member organizations to sample 75 sites throughout the watershed from Worcester to Pawtucket.  Sites are sampled on the second Saturday of each month from April through November.  Field monitors and floaters are trained in a one-hour session to test for dissolved oxygen at the site, record physical and aesthetic parameters, and collect a water sample that they drop off at the lab between 9:00 a.m. and noon on the Saturday of testing.  Lab volunteers, who help test these samples for nutrients, conductivity, and turbidity, do not need to commit to helping each month and can be trained the first time they assist.  The Headwaters Team is based in Worcester, and the Midreach Team is based in Uxbridge, MA.

To volunteer as a field monitor, floater, or lab assistant, please contact Susan Thomas, Coordinator, BRC Volunteer WQM Program at 508-471-0988/ acadia94@[P.O. Box 70477, Worcester, MA  01607   508-753-6087]zoho.com.

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