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  2. Participatory Science
  3. Explore Projects

Participatory Science Water Projects

Why is Water Quality Monitoring Important?

Water is an essential part of everyday life, whether for drinking, recreation, or irrigation. Ensuring access to clean and safe water is an EPA priority. Water quality monitoring is very common among participatory science activities and communities across the U.S. are working to investigate their local water quality concerns. 

EPA has supported many projects addressing a wide variety of water quality concerns such as harmful algal blooms, drinking water quality, storm water runoff, and ocean acidification issues.

On this page: 

  • Highlighted Projects 
  • Water Project Resources 

See some great water-focused projects below:

More Resources

  • EPA StoryMap on Participatory Science

Between Two Worlds Science Program

Citizen scientists huddled together next to a waterbody

The Between Two Worlds Indigenous Science program educates Swinomish Indian Tribe youth on natural resources management, including salmon recovery, water quality, and habitat restoration. 

Learn more about Between Two Worlds.

Proctor Creek Watershed Community Science

Community group holding poster board

Communities near Proctor Creek suffer public health threats due to flooding and pathogens from sewage overflow. In 2013, the Urban Waters Federal Partnership was created to promote community efforts for socio-economic and ecological revitalization. 

Learn more about Proctor Creek.

South Carolina Adopt-a-Stream (SC-AS) Program

citizen scientist conducting water monitoring

South Carolina's Adopt-a-Stream program seeks to protect local waterways through volunteer water quality and habitat monitoring. A mobile-friendly database houses the collected data and shares information with resource managers. 

Learn more about SC-AS.

Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Cooperative

view of a coastline at sunset

The  Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative trains community members to collect water quality and macroinvertebrate data in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Data is used to assess the Watershed's health.

Learn more about the Chesapeake Monitoring project. 

Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE)

a group of citizen scientists collecting water samples

In 2016, EPA started a project that engages community stakeholders in assessing the vulnerability of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts' drinking water to salt water intrusion from sea level rise and storm surges and has created interactive maps of flood scenarios (photo by Cynthia Naha). 

Learn more about RAINE.

Charles River Monthly Monitoring River Science Program

water monitoring equipment held above a river

In Massachusetts, the Charles River Monthly Monitoring Science program engages volunteer community scientists in collecting water quality samples and participating in restoration projects such as invasive species removals. 

Learn more about the Charles River Science Program.

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Resources for Water Projects

Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring 

Volunteers from many local organizations collect water quality data to improve the health of water bodies. 

  • EPA collects water quality monitoring data to help water resource managers know where pollution problems exist, where to focus pollution control energies and where progress has been made.
    • The Water Quality Exchange (WQX) is the mechanism for data partners to submit water monitoring data to EPA.
    • The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is the mechanism for anyone, including the public, to retrieve water monitoring data from EPA.
  • The National Water Quality Monitoring Council serves data collected by over 400 state, federal, tribal, and local agencies through the Water Quality Portal

Cyanobacteria Monitoring 

There are three ways the public can get involved in monitoring for cyanobacteria through the Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative and provide crucial information to government agencies that help address harmful algal blooms.

  • Crowdsourcing to find and report cyanobacteria blooms through the bloomWatch App
  • Mapping cyanobacteria to help understand where and when cyanobacteria species occur through cyanoScope
  • Monitoring cyanobacteria populations over time to help track seasonal patterns of cyanobacteria through cyanoMonitoring

Sanitary Surveys

  • Sanitary surveys are a method of investigating the sources of fecal contamination to a waterbody.  The EPA Sanitary Survey App for Marine and Fresh Waters helps waterbody managers evaluate all contributing waterbody and watershed information including water quality data, pollution source data, and land use data. Visit the Sanitary Surveys for Recreational Waters page

Drinking Water Infrastructure

  • Crowd the Tap is an EPA-funded project that promotes access to safe drinking water by assisting individuals and groups with investigations of pipe materials that deliver drinking water to homes. Join the Crowd the Tap project

Waterbody Quality

  • Want to learn about your local waterbodies? EPA's How's My Waterway is an interactive website and map that provides information about the condition of your local waters based on data that states,  federal, tribal, local agencies and others have provided to EPA. 

Participatory Science

  • Explore Projects
    • Water Projects
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    • FAQ for Participatory Science
    • More Project Resources
Contact Us about Participatory Science
Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Last updated on May 30, 2025
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