Volunteer Water Quality Workshops

Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Workshops

Introductory | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3

Introductory Workshop

This is the basic level of monitoring that includes visual survey and biological monitoring. The primary emphasis is education about watersheds and the importance of biological monitoring. Citizens will receive training in a workshop setting. The following subjects are taught in the classroom and demonstrated at a nearby creek.

Volunteers receive instruction in the following:

How to take a subjective visual survey of the stream site that will be monitored. The survey includes evaluating land use, riparian (wooded area) cover, stream bank and in-stream conditions.
How to map a watershed. Volunteers receive a chance for hands-on mapping and receive instructions on how to map the watershed of their adopted stream.
How to collect and identify invertebrates that are living in streams. Invertebrates are indicators of pollution. Volunteers learn how to derive a water quality rating from the invertebrate collection.
How to choose a good site to monitor.
How to be safe on the creek.
How to understand the laws that protect the water quality of streams in Missouri.
How to fill out data reports.
Why it is important that no one should trespass.

Workshop attendees will receive monitoring equipment that includes a kick net, vials, invertebrate photographs, forceps and a training notebook. The workshop is taught in one day.

2008 Introductory Workshop Schedule

Workshop Location	Registration Deadline	Workshop Date and Time
Leasburg Onondaga Cave State Park 7556 Hwy. H	Tuesday, March 4 Registration Closed	Wednesday, March 19 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Winona Twin Pines Conservation Education Center Rt. 1 Box 1998	Wednesday, March 12	Saturday, March 29 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Jefferson City Missouri Department of Conservation Runge Conservation Nature Center 303 Commerce	Wednesday, March 19	Friday, April 3 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
St. Charles Busch Wildlife Area 2360 Hwy. D	Wednesday, March 26 Registration Closed	Friday, April 11 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Chillicothe Litton Agri-Science Learning Center Hwy. 190	Wednesday, March 26	Saturday, April 12 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Raymore Raymore City Hall 100 N. Municipal Circle	Wednesday, April 9 Registration Closed	Saturday, April 26 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Springfield The Library Station 2535 N. Kansas Expressway	Wednesday, April 16	Friday, May 2 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bolivar Citizens Memorial Healthcare 1500 North Oakland	Wednesday, April 16	Saturday, May 3 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Columbia Boone Electric Cooperative 1413 Rangeline St.	Wednesday, April 30	Saturday, May 17 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Salem Montauk State Park – Searcy Building RR 5 Box 279	Wednesday, May 14	* Workshop held over two days * Friday, May 30 Noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday, May 31 8:30 a.m. to noon

Registration Form must be returned by the deadline to be registered. Register for an Introductory Workshop.
Attendance will be limited to 30 people per workshop.
Please bring a sack lunch. Lunch will not be provided.
Wear outdoor clothing and bring boots or “river shoes” in preparation for wading into a stream.
If you have other questions about the workshop, call Priscilla Stotts at 573-526-3406.
Registration confirmation (along with a map to the workshop location) will be mailed to registrants one week prior to the workshop.

Introductory Workshop Notebook

Chapter 1 Welcome PDF
Chapter 2 A Watershed View (2MB) PDF
Chapter 3 Visual Survey (2MB) PDF
Chapter 4 Biological Monitoring (3MB) PDF
Chapter 5 Safety and Trespassing PDF
Chapter 6 Site Identification and Selection PDF
Chapter 7 Water Chemistry PDF
Chapter 8 Law and Advocacy PDF
Chapter 9 Zebra Mussel Monitoring PDF
Chapter 10 Appendix PDF
Chapter 11 Glossary PDF
Chapter 12 Datasheets (1MB) PDF

Level 1 Workshop

The Level 1 Workshop will prepare volunteers to go to a nearby stream and investigate six chemical aspects of the water, measure stream discharge and collect macroinvertebrates and water quality indicator species. The chemical tests include temperature, pH (the acidity of the water), conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate and phosphate (nutrients) and turbidity. All six parameters can be related to the Clean Water Act laws that protect the water quality of the nation’s rivers
and streams.

The workshop provides six hours of in-classroom instruction that includes

How to the properly conduct the chemical tests,
How to manage and care for the chemical test equipment,
How to safely store the test equipment,
How to dispose of the water and waste materials that is created from the chemical reactions,
How to interpret the data through the use of a Water Chemistry Reference Table and
How to measure stream discharge.

Workshop time is spent demonstrating and practicing chemical monitoring in the classroom and in the field. The stream side chemical testing includes when (time of day) it is beneficial to monitor and when monitoring can become dangerous.

Workshop time is spent teaching the correct method for measuring flow (discharge) in the classroom as well as out on the stream. Volunteers are taught how to measure the width and depth of the flowing water and velocity of the current. Volunteers are instructed on how to use the Stream Discharge data sheets and mathematically derive the stream discharge in cubic feet per second. This method is comparable to professional stream discharge measurements.

Biological monitoring is reviewed including

Macroinvertebrate habitats,
Seasons for collecting biological data,
Life cycle of the aquatic insect and
How to identify macroinvertebrates by studying morphology and key characteristics.

Level I instruction also covers aspects of sand and gravel removal and the physical change that can take place in a stream when the removal of these resources are conducted improperly.

Workshop attendees will receive monitoring equipment that includes a pH and conductivity pen, water thermometer, dissolved oxygen kit, nitrate kit, turbidity tube, surveyors measuring tape, float device, safety glasses and a training notebook when they have completed an Introductory workshop and the Level I workshop. The workshop is scheduled for one day.

Level 1 Workshop Notebook

Chapter 1 Welcome PDF
Chapter 2 Water Chemistry PDF
Chapter 3 Stream Discharge (1.45 MB) PDF
Chapter 4 Safety PDF
Chapter 5 Gravel Mining PDF
Chapter 6 Biological Monitoring (2.65 MB) PDF
Chapter 7 Appendix PDF
Chapter 8 Datasheets PDF

Level 2 Workshop

Volunteers who have successfully completed the Level 1 workshop and submitted both Stream Discharge and Water Chemistry data are eligible to attend a Level 2 workshop. The Level 2 workshop is a Quality Assurance/Quality Control Workshop in a laboratory setting.

Attending a Level 2 workshop allows the volunteer to

Check their chemical monitoring equipment to ensure it is functioning properly,
Improve their chemical monitoring techniques and
Improve their ability to correctly identify macroinvertebrates by obtaining assistance identifying unknown invertebrates from their streams and confirming identification of invertebrates in their reference collection.

Level 3 Evaluation

Volunteers who have successfully completed the Level 2 Workshop are eligible for Level 3 evaluation. Those volunteers who regularly submit all four data sets may be the most comfortable pursuing a Level 3 audit.

The designation of Level 3 indicates that program personnel have evaluated the volunteer in the field at their monitoring site. In order to pass a Level 3 audit, the volunteer must successfully demonstrate all of the procedures and techniques learned up to that point, as well as be able to identify all of the invertebrates at their site to Order.

This evaluation is scheduled through appointment only. It is strongly recommended that the volunteer request evaluation during a time of year they regularly sample macroinvertebrates. By doing so, the volunteer ensures the highest level of familiarity and confidence identifying the types and seasonally-changing sizes of invertebrates in their stream.

For more information contact Wayne Maresch with the department's Environmental Services Program.