Blackstone River Seeks Volunteers

Posted April 19, 2021

Manchaug Pond Foundation Affiliations

Contact: Susan Thomas (508)471-0988 or sthomas@massaudubon.com
Press Release: For immediate release

Watershed Group Needs Volunteers

3/15/21 – The Blackstone River Coalition (BRC) needs volunteers to assist with its 18th year of water quality monitoring of 28 sites in the mid-reach section of the watershed. Enjoy being out along waterways? Volunteer as a regular site monitor assigned to a particular site or serve as a “floater” to cover sites on an “as needed” basis. Fieldwork not your thing? Come volunteer in the water-testing lab which operates out of the Tri-River Family Health Center on Oak Street in Uxbridge, MA.

The BRC trains community scientists to participate in the Coalition’s watershed-wide water quality monitoring program. The goal of this long-running program is to gather information about the current status of, and long-term changes in, the health of the Blackstone River watershed. This information helps local policy makers, state officials, and concerned community members make the Blackstone River cleaner for people and for wildlife.

Over 90 volunteers work with the BRC to sample 75 sites throughout the watershed from Worcester to Pawtucket. Sites are sampled on the second Saturday of each month from April through November. Field monitors and floaters are trained in a 1 hr session to test for dissolved oxygen at the site, record physical and aesthetic parameters, and collect a water sample that they drop off at the lab between 9 a.m. and noon on the Saturday of testing. Lab volunteers, who help test these samples for nutrients, conductivity, and turbidity, do not need to commit to helping each month and can be trained the first time they assist.

The Headwaters Team samples waterways from Worcester to Grafton and runs its testing lab out of Mass Audubon’s Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester. The Rhode Island Team samples waterways from Woonsocket to Pawtucket and runs its lab out of the Blackstone River Watershed Council’s Education Center in Lincoln.

To volunteer as a field monitor, floater, or lab assistant, please contact Susan Thomas, Coordinator, BRC Volunteer WQM Program at 508-471-0988/ acadia94@zoho.com.

###

The Manchaug Pond Foundation is an active member of the Blackstone River Coalition and the Blackstone River Watershed Association. Our efforts here in the Manchaug Pond watershed actively contribute to the health of the Mumford River, a tributary of the Blackstone River system. If you would like to volunteer, contact the BRC or if you with to serve the Manchaug Pond Foundation on a water quality team or as a liaison, please contact us  today.