Nearly two-thirds of New York State (NYS) residents get their drinking water from surface sources, prompting widespread public interest in water quality. For example, many volunteers monitor their local lakes through the Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) in collaboration with NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to predict and respond to threats to water quality such as salinization, harmful algal blooms, and emerging contaminants. However, processes like climate change and shifts in land use increasingly alter the distribution of healthy waters in the state. Therefore, there is a critical need for a workforce proficient in using modern monitoring techniques to detect and respond to these changes while addressing community concerns. Our objective is to pilot an apprenticeship program that develops the future workforce in water-related fields. This program will provide opportunities for community-engaged, interdisciplinary, experiential training and contributes to water monitoring in the state. Students participating in this program will learn standard geochemical analyses, characterization of microbial communities, quantification of emerging contaminants, social science methodologies, and analytical skills to intergrate the different data types. This project will be led by Aaron Ninokawa, Emily Arsenault, Christine Georgakakos, Jennifer Goff, Julia Maresca, Madeline Nyblade, Hannah Reich, and Jamie Shinn at SUNY ESF. This will be in collaboration with Tao Wen, Assistant Professor at Syracuse University; Patrick Lynch, Director at the Central New York Land Trust; Adam Effler, Excutive Director at Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council, and Carol Sutkus, President of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association.
