DELAWARE is made up of some of the most beautiful watersheds in the mid-Atlantic region, but these are also some of our most threatened resources. A watershed is the land that drains water into a river, stream, bay or any other body of water. The land and water are intimately connected - what we do on the land affects the water quality. We all live in a watershed and there are many things we can do to protect and improve the water quality in Delaware. This web site demonstrates one of the ways average citizens are making a difference. Volunteers are collecting data in watersheds all over the state, measuring dissolved oxygen, pH, alkalinity, nitrate nitrogen, phosphates, conductivity, temperature, and at certain sites, turbidity. This data is used in many different ways, including environmental education, identifying areas of concern, and tracking how well different techniques (called Best Management Practices or BMPs) implemented to protect and improve the rivers, streams, and bays are working.

Citizen Science Data
Established in 1995, Delaware Nature Society's Technical Stream Monitoring is a nationally recognized example of the acceptance and use of citizen science data by the State and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Technical Stream Monitoring (click link for a current list of monitoring sites) was developed to supplement the State's monitoring efforts in other locations by providing reliable baseline values for several different chemical and physical parameters. The monthly sampling frequency, strategic site selection, technical equipment, and rigorous quality assurance and control measures allow for more subtle trend analysis.

The data collected by our volunteers is being incorporated into water quality models used by DNREC's Division of Water Resources. In addition, the data has been published in the Delaware Nature Society's State of the Watershed reports and is published every other year in DNREC's report on the statewide assessment of Delaware's surface and ground water resources that is required under Section 305 (b) of the Federal Clean Water Act.

A new volunteer citizen science initiative, Riparian Habitat Assessment, aims at collecting additional data on streams and adjacent wetlands and using it to develop a more complete picture of the overall health of Delaware's watersheds.