Consistently monitor surface water quality/clarity and report findings to community members.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
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Confirm that a governmental entity (watershed district/organization, county, MPCA, DNR, MDH) is routinely sampling water quality/clarity in at least one location within the city/city’s watershed. |
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Post on the city website water quality/clarity data (or a link to data) available for the city/city’s watershed. |
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Recognize on the city website at least one person who is a volunteer water monitor, and assure that they are routinely sampling a river or lake or wetland in at least one location within the city/city’s watershed and sending results to the MPCA; include water quality data and descriptive narrative relevant to proposed projects that will be located in shoreland areas in staff reports for all land use applications (variances, CUPs, plats/PUDs, etc.). |
Resources
- Learn more about the MPCA Citizen Lake and Citizen Stream Monitoring Programs and how community members can participate.
- Cities can reach out to find volunteers from schools/colleges, seniors, service/environmental groups, and can organize a community-wide event to collect stream/river samples.
- Water quality data is available from many sources including:
- Include light readings during monitoring, as this impacts the health of the aquatic ecosystem. Use the International Dark-Sky Association Accessible Applications for Measuring Light Pollution guide. See the GreenStep Dark Skies best practices for more.
Order Number
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