Test your water!
Last year Iowa CCI partnered with Izaak Walton League and their Nitrate Watch program to facilitate citizen water testing. We had great participation with over 150 people ordering test kits and adding data to the Clean Water Hub. It's super simple and we are excited to offer this people powered program again in 2025!
We are aiming to be more strategic with testing this year. We are asking Citizen Scientists to test their tap and an outdoor waterway in their area. We are also looking to build regional teams where it is possible and makes sense. We want to make this program more robust AND connect people around water quality in their area.
If this community driven science of water testing and data collection sounds like your jam - here's how to get started!
Step One: Click here to order your testing kit from Nitrate Watch! This will come with 25 testing strips and instruction cards to help guide you through testing.
Step Two: Figure out your testing and monitoring plan. What water do you want to test and how often? Here is a link to the Nitrate Watch Monitoring Plan worksheet. This is a helpful resource for making your testing plan.
Step Three: Conduct some water tests! We encourage people to test their tap water AND a local water body.
Step Four: Log your data into the Clean Water Hub database.
Step Five: Click here to register for the monthly Zoom meeting on Thursday, April 24 at 5:00pm! The first monthly Zoom was Thursday, March 27. Click here to watch the recording and learn about the program from Heather Wilson with Izaak Walton League.
We hope you will join us to test water and collect data!