Sample sites should represent all major tributaries in the watershed. It is preferable to locate these sites immediately above bridges or other easily accessible locations. On larger tributaries more than one sample site may be desirable to document changes in water quality that may occur from the headwater of the stream to near the mouth of the stream. Student help could be used in some project areas. Other services available through the ETF Program include project design, data management and interpretation, and final report preparation.
Costs vary with the level of assistance.
Following are costs of analytical packages. Available for purchase. Analysis for other inorganic water quality characteristics or pesticides could also be performed. Invertebrates are used because they are common in virtually all streams, are easily collected, not very mobile, easy to identify, and have life cycles of one year or greater. These organisms are valuable in assessing water quality under conditions of intermittent or mild organic enrichment when classical chemical analyses do not detect change in water quality as they are continually exposed to extremes in environmental conditions throughout their life cycle.