Remember the date: Sept. 18. That’s World Water Monitoring Day, a tailor-made chance for clean-water agencies to reach out to the community about the importance of water quality and wastewater treatment.
Sponsored by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA), this international education and outreach program builds awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world.
Last year nearly 123,000 people worldwide celebrated the day by sampling their local streams, rivers and lakes for parameters like dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature and turbidity. People from 81 countries reported data on their sampling. In the United States alone, participants monitored 4,155 sites. People perform simple water-quality tests using kits created by LaMotte Company in cooperation with WEF and IWA.
Although Sept. 18 is the official observance, volunteers can sample waterbodies and report data to the program’s database anytime from March 22 to Dec. 31. You can find details on the Web site at www.worldwater monitoringday.org.
Lorien Walsh coordinates World Water Monitoring Day at WEF. She sees the program as a great way for WEF Member Associations and clean-water agencies to engage the public and generate more interest in water-quality issues. She shared her thoughts about the day and its impacts in an interview with Treatment Plant Operator.
TPO:
What is the history behind World Water Monitoring Day?
Walsh:
World Water Monitoring Day was created in 2002 by America’s Clean Water Foundation. That group dissolved in 2006, and at that point they came to WEF and said, “We have this wonderful outreach program — would you have any interest in taking it on?” We jumped at the chance, and the program was transferred to WEF in 2006.
We co-coordinate the program with the International Water Association as equal stakeholders. The involvement of IWA goes back to 2004, when what was then National Water Monitoring Day become a worldwide event.
TPO:
Participants record data on local waters to an online database. What’s more important — the data itself, or the awareness the event helps create?
Walsh:
Definitely the latter. Our mission is to boost awareness of water-quality issues, to educate the public about some key indicators of water quality, and to get people hands-on engaged with their local waterbodies, so that they become more attuned to what they can do to protect water resources.
TPO:
What is done with the data the participants collect?
Walsh:
We do post it online. It creates a nice sense of community when you have people at sites all over the world collecting data. We’re now taking the data and putting it up on a map that will run off Google Maps. So all the sites will be represented there, and all the data collected.
We’re also looking at ways to do some quick visual comparisons so that, for example, people can see how their monitoring site in Virginia rates as compared with other sites in that state. There might be a bar graph showing how one site’s dissolved oxygen compares to the state average or the national average. We hope to make it a little easier for people to visualize what the results are.
TPO:
The test kits for sampling are extremely simple. How was it possible to make the sampling so easy and inexpensive?
Walsh:
Our partner, LaMotte Company, has been involved since the beginning. One of their areas of expertise is developing kits that are very hands-on and are designed for educators. The kit was initially developed between LaMotte and America’s Clean Water Foundation.
When WEF came on board, we made some improvements, such as adding to the instructional booklet that goes along with the kits. Instead of just having text descriptions, we did some illustrations to make it easier for children or people who don’t speak English to figure out how to conduct the tests.
LaMotte has some basic technology for the tablet tests for DO and pH. The tests are pretty reliable. In my experience, doing the more advanced tests with electronic probes and titration, and comparing the results to what the test kits give you, there’s not a whole lot of difference. It’s accurate enough for the lay person. It’s sort of a Water Quality 101 experience.
TPO:
How would you describe the range of organizations that take part in World Water Monitoring Day?
Walsh:
The range is very broad. They all have their own reasons for participating. We get a lot of school groups, and they range from elementary to high school, although we are pretty concentrated in the upper elementary age range.
We get a lot of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, who tend to focus on outdoor environmental activities. Some civic organizations like Rotary and Lions pick it up, as do service groups like Engineers without Borders, Save the Children and the Peace Corps.
There are corporate participants also. Particularly for wastewater utilities or for engineering firms that work in water quality, it’s a nice tool for doing outreach in the communities where they work. The same is true for our corporate sponsors.
TPO:
How much participation do you get from cities and clean-water plants?
Walsh:
I would say we don’t have as many as we would like. We have groups that are closely affiliated. Some of WEF’s Member Associations have gotten engaged. For example, the New England, Rocky Mountain and Florida Water Environment Associations are quite active.
In the United States, we’d really like to have a partnering group in each of the 50 states. We have partnering groups in about half the states right now. We would like to engage our Member Associations, get their public education committees excited about it, and get them to filter the information down to the individual cities and agencies.
TPO:
How do the municipalities and clean-water agencies take part?
Walsh:
It’s a mixed bag. Some will use it as a tool to get into the schools and speak about water quality, and loop that back to what they do as their core business. Others actually bring the students to their facilities and have a tour, and they might test some nearby waterway.
Still others will take part in local environmental fairs or Earth Day celebrations. They might have a booth there where they talk about what they do, and they’ll have a little World Water Monitoring Day demonstration.
The nice thing about the program is that it’s pretty basic, so it really can be adapted based on the group’s individual needs. The test kits cost $13, and you get enough materials to do up to 50 rounds of testing. You get a lot of bang for the buck.
TPO:
Are you developing any educational programs or materials to help support the monitoring program?
Walsh:
We’re constantly working on supplemental resources. We have a story book for elementary students. It’s actually a fictional tale, but it highlights the water monitoring activity. It’s educational without being overtly so, and it’s also very entertaining. We make that available free of charge to groups that are hosting events or going to schools.
We hope to collaborate very soon with an organization that develops water-quality lesson plans to create a series of lessons that teachers could easily pick up and use. They would deal with water quality beginning with the watershed viewpoint and moving through land use and the effects different land uses have on the waters. The lessons culminate in World Water Monitoring Day and the monitoring activities.
TPO:
What do you see as some of your biggest successes so far?
Walsh:
I’m very impressed by some of the groups from developing countries. They don’t have a lot of resources but they have a lot of enthusiasm. Last year, Malaysia took over the top spot for participation — they had 50,000 people involved around the country. That’s largely thanks to Kalaimani Supramaniam, who is a teacher at a national secondary school and the Environment Online Asia coordinator spearheading outreach efforts throughout the region, particularly tree planting and water-quality monitoring.
Another hot spot is Spain, where the program is coordinated by WEF Member Association ADECAGUA and program manager Federico Garcia. They implement World Water Monitoring Day through funding from the Spanish Ministry of Environment. In 2009, ADECAGUA purchased and distributed 2,000 test kits and logged data from more than 1,600 sites.
TPO:
Where do you see World Water Monitoring Day going in the next five to 10 years?
Walsh:
Our ultimate vision is a world where everyone assumes personal responsibility for our water resources and everyone has a basic understanding of how their personal behaviors affect water quality.
The nice thing about this program is that it starts locally, with people learning about their own waterbodies and what’s going on right in their own backyard. But then it has an umbrella effect in that all water is interrelated through the water cycle.
If something happens in Malaysia, how down the road does that affect what’s happening here in the United States, and vice versa? It’s all connected. If you take that very personal and local approach and multiply it out, suddenly you’re making a big impact worldwide.
