Across the country, private citizens are learning about water quality issues and helping protect our Nation's water resources by becoming volunteer monitors. State and local agencies may use volunteer data to screen for water quality problems, establish trends in waters that would otherwise be unmonitored, and make planning decisions. Volunteers benefit from learning more about their local water resources, identifying what conditions or activities might be contributing to pollution problems, and working with clubs, environmental groups, and state or local governments to address problem areas. Grants to States that can be used to support volunteer monitoring in lakes and for nonpoint source pollution control are also managed by the EPA Regions. Every year, many new volunteer monitoring programs are formed in the United States.
Some programs have as many as several thousand volunteers.
Many programs, however, are small and often affiliated with neighborhood associations, schools or local environmental organizations. Today, there are literally too many to count. Over 24,000 volunteers in these state-supported programs monitor more than 985 streams and rivers, nearly 2800 ponds, lakes, and wetlands, and four major estuaries. In many cases, these waters would go unmonitored if volunteers were not involved. Volunteer monitoring programs are funded through a variety of sources.