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Water Quality Monitoring

Be a Water Quality Monitor!

What is the health of our streams?
How can we improve our water quality?

Citizens collect and send stream data to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) through the local Save Our Streams program. Join Certified Monitors and Veronica Tangiri, our Water Quality Monitoring/Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator, to learn about the health of our streams and how you can impact the health of our waterways.

Gathering together data

Biological Monitoring Program

Volunteers under the Biological Monitoring Program collect benthic macroinvertebrate data. This data goes to DEQ under the Virginia Save Our Stream (VASOS) Program. 

Contract Veronica Tangiri at waterquality@pwswcd.org for more information

Macroinvertebrates found in a stream
Searching for critters in the stream

Chemical Monitoring Program

Volunteers under the Conservation District's Water Quality Program collect monthly data on conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, depth, and turbidity in Prince William County, towns, and cities.

Support water quality data along the +1,100 miles of streams in Prince William County. This data goes to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) as Tier II data and to the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) database.

Collect water quality data from any site of your interest in the community, backyard, or nearby stream. No bushwhacking is involved. Contract Veronica Tangiri at waterquality@pwswcd.org for more information

Water quality monitoring Multiparameter
Collecting chemical data in a stream
Collecting chemical data in a stream

FAQ

  • How often can a site be monitored?
    Not more than 4 times in a year (quarterly).
     

  • What does it take to become certified?

  1. Be able to identify the critters.​

  2. Be able to properly demonstrate the field protocol in data collection.

    ​Both are easy and open book!
     

  • Must I be a certified stream monitor?
    No, you can help the existing monitoring teams, too! But DEQ only accepts data that comes from certified stream monitors.
     

  • What is recommended before taking the certification test?
    Take part in at least 2-3 stream monitoring events before sitting for the certification test.

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For more information, contact Veronica Tangiri by phone at (571) 379-7514 or by e-mail at waterquality@pwswcd.org.

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