Together with water quality professionals, the area chapter of Iowa Women for Water is sponsoring a local water data collection program. “More than 40 area residents have expressed interest in helping evaluate local surface water. That’s pretty exciting,” says Laura Krause, local Iowa Women for Water chapter member. “Folks want to see for themselves what’s in our water; they’ve read or heard that Iowa’s streams and rivers are hurting and they want to do something about it.”
Teams of volunteer residents will collect water samples monthly from local streams. The number of teams and collection points will be determined by the number of volunteers.
A training session led by Dr. Mary Skopec is scheduled 9-11 am, Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day). Dr. Skopec, Executive Director of Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, is a member of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council and the National Advisory Committee on Water.
Volunteers will meet at 9 am in the library at the First Street Community Center, 221 First Street, Mount Vernon (old middle school). Following an introduction, participants will walk down to Hahn Creek–near the Gazebo located there-for training. Equipment will be provided but participants are reminded to wear appropriate clothing/shoes/boots.
To get on the volunteer mailing list, email [email protected].