We’re thrilled to announce that we have added 20 new monitoring sites to our RiverTrends program. This spring, we trained new volunteers in the Richmond, Lynchburg, and tidal York areas to collect water quality data through our RiverTrends program.

In Richmond, we partnered with the City of Richmond to train volunteers to collect field data and water samples for nutrient analysis on impaired streams.  The City has graciously donated the lab analysis time and helped fund the supplies needed for this project.

Then with funding from the Middle James Roundtable, 12 volunteers in the Lynchburg area were trained to collect field data on the James River tributaries.  Volunteers ranged from a grandmother and her grandson to James River Association RiverRats to Central Virginia Master Naturalists.

James Beckley, VA DEQ, shows volunteers the steps of the dissolved oxygen test.

In partnership, with the York and Small Coastal Basins Roundtable and Virginia Save Our Streams, we trained 11 volunteers to collect chemical and biological data across the tidal York area.  These volunteers hailed from local master naturalist chapters, a concerned group in Matthews County, and the York County Waterways Alliance.

See where all the new sites are located in the map below or visit: https://goo.gl/maps/PA9NMData is annually submitted the to Virginia DEQ for use in the Virginia’s 305(b)/303(d) Integrated Water Quality Assessment Report to EPA which summarizes water quality conditions and identified waters that do not meet water quality standards.

We’ll be scheduling more volunteer water quality monitoring trainings in the fall, so if you’re interested in helping us collect valuable data, please contact Anna Mathis at 804-775-0951 or amathis@allianceforthebay.org for more information.