Surface waters supply drinking water, irrigation, recreation, and more to many people of central New York. From county soil and water conservation district offices to lake associations, environmental not-for-profits to land trusts, many disparate organizations work to increase the quality of these waters. A well-coordinated network of interested individuals working together to monitor the state of these waters could combine efforts and share discoveries which can reduce the costs associated with managing water resources. However, uniform training in the deployment of volunteers, community monitoring networks, and citizen scientists has not yet been achieved. We intend to hold workshops where interested individuals from representative groups can be trained on using datalogging equipment, acquiring usable grab samples, and gauging surface water health via the identification and censusing of aquatic macroinvertebrates.
