Statewide: Texas Stream Team - Volunteers Monitoring Water Quality
Texas Stream Team coordinates a network of partner organizations and citizen scientists to increase the public's knowledge of water quality and nonpoint source pollution across the state.
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Background
Texas Stream Team (TST), directed by Texas State University’s Meadow Center for Water and the Environment, is an on-going state program. TST coordinates a network of partner organizations and volunteer citizen scientists who seek to increase the public’s knowledge of water quality and nonpoint source pollution across the state through water quality monitoring, data collection and analysis, and related educational programs.
Back to topProject Description
This citizen scientist program increases public knowledge of water quality issues through trained volunteers who conduct water quality monitoring on their local lakes, rivers, streams, and estuaries across the state. The volunteers submit their data to a database maintained by the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment.
These data can be used to identify areas with water quality concerns which can be communicated to water resource managers who implement best management practices for improving water quality. Long-term monitoring can be used to assess the effectiveness of such best management practices.
TST supports a variety of watershed services in communities that have complete and approved Watershed Protection Plans (WPPs) or are currently developing a WPP, and/or Total Maximum Daily Loads. Services include assisting water quality data collection and analysis and providing TST programming and information regarding matching/in-kind funds.
TST also provides watershed education to at least 5,500 people annually on topics including nonpoint source pollution and water conservation and management.
TST will continue managing, expanding, and strengthening their statewide citizen science network by working with partners and established groups, creating new partner networks and citizen scientist groups, expanding the role of citizen scientists in Texas, and educating the public, students, volunteers, and resource managers about watersheds, water quality, and nonpoint source pollution.
For More Information
To find out more about the NPS Program, call 512-239-6682 or e-mail us at nps@tceq.texas.gov.