What is Water Quality Monitoring?

Our volunteer water quality monitoring program provides critical data on the health of our local streams. By measuring physical, chemical, and biological indicators, we can track changes over time and identify potential threats to our watershed.

Each month, from May through October, trained volunteers collect water samples from 17 sites across our service area — 12 in the Tinker’s Creek watershed and 5 in the Brandywine Creek watershed. Using professional-grade YSI water quality meters, our volunteers measure key indicators that tell us about stream health, help us detect changes over time, and guide restoration efforts.