"Engaging Volunteers in Monitoring Water Quality and Cyanobacterial Blooms"

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 12:30pm to 1:30pm

"Engaging Volunteers in Monitoring Water Quality and Cyanobacterial Blooms"
Elizabeth Herron
Program Director, Watershed Watch at University of Rhode Island

Wednesday, February 25, 2026
12:30 - 1:30 pm
SMAST E 101-103 and via Zoom

Abstract:

For nearly forty years volunteers in the URI Watershed Watch (WW) program have been monitoring lakes and ponds (as well as rivers, streams, estuaries and salt ponds) throughout the state and adjacent areas, including southeastern Massachusetts. Scientist-led, state-certified and using established methods, the volunteer generated data have produced significant and robust long-term data sets that encourage local actions and community stewardship. Responding to increasing local concerns, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s New England Regional laboratory created the Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (CMC), a unique collaboration with some NE volunteer monitoring/citizen science programs and other organizations to add cyanobacteria-monitoring to their toolboxes.

 This presentation will provide a brief overview of URIWW and highlight some of the keys to building successful programs. It will discuss the methods and tools from URIWW and the CMC. Comprehensive resources designed to help other citizen science programs to get started, develop and grow will be shared.

Join Meeting

https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270

Note: Meeting ID and passcode required. Email contact to obtain.

SMAST East 101-103 : 836 S. Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford MA 02744
Callie Rumbut
c.rumbut@umassd.edu
https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270