About River Watch of Colorado’s Mission

River Watch of Colorado is a statewide volunteer water quality-monitoring program operated in partnership between River Science and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). Our mission is to work with voluntary stewards to monitor water quality and other indicators of watershed health and utilize this high-quality data to educate communities and inform decision-makers about the condition of Colorado’s waters. This program is unique in its statewide focus and frequency of data collection.

Real people doing real science for a real purpose

Our mission is to work with voluntary stewards to monitor water quality and other indicators of watershed health and utilize this high-quality data to educate communities and inform decision-makers about the condition of Colorado’s waters. This data is also used in the Clean Water Act decision-making process.

Since 1989, River Watch has had two primary goals:

Provide a hands-on real science experience learning the value and function of Colorado’s River and water ecosystems
Generate quality aquatic habitat over space and time for use in Clean Water Act, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, watershed, local, and other decision-making processes

How and why did River Watch start?

Three people with passion walk into a bar. One teacher, Ed Hayne from Oak Creek, Colorado, wanted to get his students engaged in real science, learning about the incredible resources surrounding Oak Creek. One Project Wild facilitator, Carol Bylsma, found funding to get youth engaged in real science. One scientist fresh out of college, Barb Horn, was determined to represent aquatic life in Colorado Clean Water Act decision processes. While the three did not actually meet in a bar, they collaborated to form River Watch, a statewide water quality monitoring program with a focus on community involvement and education.

In 1989, the majority of water quality decisions were made with little to no data. Colorado has over 770,000 miles of rivers, many of which were not sampled or assessed. A clear data gap existed. River Watch was born to fill this data gap by leveraging the resources of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, communities, teachers, and students to monitor the long-term condition of our rivers. The program focuses on gathering high-quality data for any entity, agency, or person to use in their own decision processes to further protect water resources.

How does River Watch Work?

River Watch is primarily funded by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) through a mix of federal funds and Colorado Lottery funds. CPW contracts every five years with a partner to help provide professional staff to support volunteers, diversity funding, size, and program areas.

River Watch has an annual cycle that works around the school and state fiscal calendar. All volunteers are required to attend one of our four-day training events, offered in late summer or mid-fall, switching east and west slope central locations each year.

As a baseline engagement, all groups sample and analyze all stations monthly for temperature, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, and hardness. Total and dissolved metals are collected monthly and analyzed at CPW laboratories for 13 metals (Al, Ar, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Se, Zn). High and low-flow nutrient samples (total nitrogen, ammonia, nitrate/nitrite, total phosphorus, chloride, sulfate, and total suspended solids) are collected and analyzed at CPW laboratories. Fall macroinvertebrate samples are collected with a physical habitat assessment. Bugs are sent to a certified taxonomist to identify species and genera. Before September 2016, a 300-count laboratory method was used, and a 500 count thereafter.

“All methods follow Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division methods. A River Watch Standard Operating Procedures Manual, Data Management Plan, and Quality Assurance Plan are in revision and planned for completion in December 2018. These will be available on the Resources page. A standard operating procedure manual is available. Quality assurance and control is a large part of the program, which conducts a 20% QAQC sample frequency compared to the industry 10% standard. River Watch is transparent about our methods and trains volunteers on their role in providing quality data. Safety is the number one consideration in determining a site. Year-round public access, available flow data, existing data, and other considerations enter into site selection. River Watch gathers data, but it does not interpret that data or use it outside of CPW’s mission. All River Watch data is public information and is available at Colorado Data Sharing Network, National Water Quality Portal, and is delivered to the WQCD for their annual hearing data calls.

Volunteer monitoring is not free but extremely cost-effective. The cost for River Watch data is time, and our sample turnaround time is longer than a private laboratory.