Volunteers Monitor Water Quality in the Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area

The 2022 season for our Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area Water Quality Monitoring Program has begun!

The Karths, WWRA water quality volunteers, measuring transparency in one of the area streams

Dedicated volunteers are off to a great start collecting water quality data in the Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area for the 2022 season. The goal of the monitoring program is to track total phosphorus concentrations and the associated characteristics in lakes and streams in the Winnebago Recovery Area (WWRA). Volunteers collect data during the growing season (May through October).

The data are used to assess the effectiveness of management actions taken to improve and protect our waters, and to better inform recovery efforts. The data are also used to build a long-term dataset, which can help us tell the difference between inter-annual differences and changes due to protection and restoration efforts taken by our farmers, urban communities, and shoreline residents.

Our volunteers are vital to our efforts.

The WWRA is a large system and we have volunteers collecting data from 6 lake sites and 7 stream sites spread across the area. Volunteers underwent training with FWWA staff to learn how to collect data accurately. Along the way, we saw wildlife such as muskrats, egrets, and crayfish which is always a bonus!

Our hardworking volunteers work around uncooperative weather and sometimes challenging terrain to collect important data. The methods used for the WQMP are based on statewide monitoring programs such as the Water Action Volunteers (WAV), Citizen Lakes Monitoring Network (CLMN), and Wisconsin DNR Long-term Trend monitoring (LTT).

Our volunteers are giving valuable insight which we would be unable to do without their dedication! Thank you volunteers!!

If you are interested in learning more or becoming a volunteer, check out our Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area Water Quality Monitoring Program site (CLICK HERE) or contact Katie Reed, Winnebago Waterways Program Coordinator at katherine@fwwa.org or 920-851-6472.

Some of the supplies and equipment used by water quality volunteers.

Macroinvertebrate found by one of the water quality volunteers when monitoring for indicator species in a local stream.