Scouts, others help in first annual water quality monitoring

Monitoring sites were chosen from Bonneville Dam to the mouth of the river in Astoria, where over 500 volunteers monitored during this event, obtaining water quality information on 240 stream and river sites.

Four testing stations were set-up throughout the Estuary Partnership study area to compensate for the lack of water quality monitoring kits available and to accommodate the number of volunteers participating in the event; stations were set-up in Portland, Vancouver, Longview, and Astoria.

The testing stations were run by Americorps team members from the Vancouver and Portland offices using equipment loaned to the Estuary Partnership from DEQ.

Volunteers who did not have access to water quality monitoring equipment visited one of the testing stations prior to going into the field to pick up water collection bottles, chemicals for fixing the dissolved oxygen samples, and data sheets.

After collecting water samples from their chosen sampling site, volunteers returned their samples in coolers of ice to the testing station where Americorps members analyzed the samples.

The data collected will be summarized in a report and distributed to all participants in this event as well as schools who are engaged in water quality monitoring and stream studies.

This data should present a "snapshot" of the Lower Columbia River and tributaries over this two-day period.