The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is recruiting volunteers for the 2017 summer sampling season to conduct water quality assessments in nearby streams and rivers as part of the Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators project known as WAVE.

WAVE data are used to augment the work of the DEC’s Stream Biomonitoring Unit, which samples streams and rivers across the state to create an inventory of stream water quality. Volunteer monitors provide information to help in identifying healthy streams and flagging streams with potential water quality concerns.

These data are included in federal and state water-quality reports and help to target professional assessments and local restoration or conservation efforts where they are most needed.

Volunteers visit stream sites once per year, between July and September, and collect macroinvertebrates — insects and other small organisms — from the rocks and rubble on the stream bottom. If six or more of the "Most Wanted" organisms are found, the stream segment is assessed as having no known impacts and fully supporting aquatic life. If mostly "Least Wanted" organisms are found, the stream segment is flagged for possible investigation by professionals.

Volunteer monitors can participate in the WAVE project in one of three ways by:

— Serving as local coordinators that coach and coordinate their own team of WAVE participants.  Local coordinators must attend a full-day training to participate;

— Sampling independently. Independent samplers must also attend a full-day training; or

— Joining a local team led by a WAVE local coordinator. No training is required for this option.

WAVE training sessions are rotated throughout the state’s 17 major drainage basins on a five-year schedule, targeting those basins that will be sampled by the DEC Stream Biomonitoring Unit the following year. For additional information, refer to the professional monitoring schedule: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/29576.html. This year, WAVE training sessions are being offered in the Susquehanna River, Lake Champlain, and Atlantic Ocean/Long Island Sound basins.
For more information or to register for a training session, contact the WAVE Coordinator Alene Onion by email: .