Volunteer Surface Water Monitoring Guide

Volunteer citizen water monitoring is a critical component in understanding and educating Minnesotans about water quality issues. This guide provides information so you as a volunteer can play an important role in monitoring and protecting Minnesota’s water resources. For more information about this guide or for a copy of the publication, contact Pat Engelking at the MPCA at 651-757-2340.

Due to the large file size of the complete guide, the guide is available in individual sections below for quicker file access. File size is noted where it is close to or exceeds 1 MB.

• Front Cover (file size=2.8 MB)
• Table of Contents
• Section 1: Introduction (file size=1.3 MB)
• Section 2: Monitoring purpose, data uses and goals
• Section 3: Data quality (file size=1 MB)
• Section 4: Design your monitoring effort (file size=1.3 MB)
• Section 5: Data management
• Section 6: Converting data to information (file size=2 MB)
• Section 7: Evaluating monitoring program performance (file size=1 MB)
• Appendices Listing (file size=1.4 MB)
• Appendix A: Resources
• Appendix B: Considerations for selecting and using a contract laboratory
• Appendix C: Summary matrix of existing manuals
• Appendix D: Monitoring requirements for MPCA integrated assessments (revised September 2009)
• Appendix E: Equipment and supply vendors
• Appendix F: MPCA Water Quality Database meta-data descriptions and requirements
• Appendix G: Useful tools for monitoring (file size=7.6 MB)
• Appendix H: Examples of local data use
• Appendix I: Acronyms, abbreviations and symbols
• Appendix J: Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Back Cover (file size=1.3 MB)