Volunteer Monitoring Partnerships

What is a volunteer monitoring partnership?

A partnership is based on a group of local citizens who want to keep track of water quality in a nearby stream. The volunteer group partners with the Community Science Institute (CSI) in order to implement their goals. CSI works with the volunteer group to raise funds for training workshops, test kits, certified laboratory analyses, and ongoing organizational and technical support. CSI invites local government agencies to join the partnership and to contribute their expertise and, when possible, financial support.

What does a volunteer monitoring partnership do?

Each member of a monitoring partnership performs a different role. Together, the partners are able to monitor water quality and investigate sources of pollution. Volunteers collect samples approximately six times per year. For each monitoring event, volunteers fan out and collect samples from all monitoring sites on the stream within a period of two to three hours. This guarantees that the monitoring event provides a water quality “snapshot” of the entire watershed under the flow conditions at that time. Volunteers measure water temperature and may also perform additional field measurements, such as pH, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity, depending on how much time they have. Volunteers then place the samples on ice and transport them to the CSI lab in Ithaca.

Over the next several weeks, the CSI lab analyzes the samples for approximately a dozen water quality parameters, including bacteria, sediment, nutrients, minerals and salt. CSI enters the data in an MS Excel spreadsheet, updates summary graphs and tables for the watershed, and posts them on this website. Findings of particular interest are presented on our “Water Quality News” page.

The contributions of agency partners vary with the needs of the partnership. Agencies may provide organizational assistance, such as hosting regular meetings of the volunteer group or maintaining a listserve. They gernerally provide input on the selection of monitoring sites, and they sometimes help pinpoint their location using GPS equipment. On sampling days, agency personnel may provide logistical support, filling in for volunteers on vacation or driving samples to the lab.

How much does a monitoring partnership cost?

A rough rule of thumb is to monitor streams twice per season, once under base flow and once under high flow or stormwater conditions. Typically, a monitoring partnership collects and analyzes samples four to six times per year, often sitting out the winter. Monitoring under high flow conditions is important in the Cayuga Lake watershed, because that is when the majority of pollutants are transported, or “loaded,” from the tributary streams to Cayuga Lake.

The annual cash outlay for a volunteer monitoring partnership can be estimated as follows: The discounted cost of performing a dozen basic water quality tests for one monitoring site is approximately $150. If ten sites are monitored, the analyses cost is $1,500 for each monitoring event. Assuming five monitoring events, the discounted analyses cost is approximately $7,500 per year. Labor costs incurred by CSI for organizational and technical support as well as data management, analysis and communication run around $10,000 per year. Overhead expenses add roughly $2,500. A “ballpark” estimate of the total cash outlay for a volunteer monitoring partnership is therefore in the neighborhood of $20,000 per year. In addition, in-kind contributions such as the time donated by volunteers and agency staff and discounted workshop and analyses costs donated by CSI are valued at roughly $10,000 per year. The total cost of a volunteer monitoring partnership is therefore on the order of $30,000 per year, but about one-third of the cost is covered by partners’ in-kind contributions.

Current monitoring partnerships

Following is a list of volunteer-agency partnerships that are currently monitoring water quality in six tributary streams of Cayuga Lake. Sources of financial support are gratefully acknowledged. Without their generosity, volunteer monitoring partnerships would not be possible!

• Fall Creek-Virgil Creek Volunteer Monitoring Partnership

  Partners: Fall Creek Watershed Committee, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation District, Community Science Institute

  Contact: George Patte, Chair, Fall Creek Watershed Committee, (607) 272-3484, george.patte@verizon.net

  Sources of financial support: City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Town of Dryden, Finger Lakes – Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance, Cornell University

• Six Mile Creek Volunteer Group

  Partners: Six Mile Creek Volunteer Group, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, Community Science Institute

  Contact: Tania Schusler, Cornell Cooperative Extension, (607) 272-2292, tms23@cornell.edu

  Sources of financial support: City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Town of  Dryden, Town of Caroline, Finger Lakes – Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance

• Streamwatch (Taughannock Creek and Trumansburg Creek volunteers)

  Partners: Streamwatch volunteers, Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District, Schuyler County Soil and Water Conservation District, Community Science Institute

  Contact: Jerry Van Orden, (607) 387-6546, jnvanorden@aol.com

  Sources of financial support: Finger Lakes – Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance

• Salmon Creek Homeschool Monitors

  Partners: Volunteer homeschool family group, Community Science Institute

  Contact: Steve Penningroth, Community Science Institute, (607) 257-6606, lab@communityscience.org

  Sources of financial support: Homelearners Fund of the Finger Lakes, Howland Foundation, Park Foundation