Water Quality Monitoring
Volunteers of all ages can be river stewards! Here a volunteer uses a grab sampler to prepare for water quality testing.
Volunteers Needed!
Water quality monitoring teams are forming now. People of all ages are encouraged to participate. Young people under 18 are welcome and require adult supervision. Each team must commit to monitoring their assigned site four scheduled times per year.
About the Project
Since 2004, the Upper Merced River Watershed Council has conducted water quality monitoring along the Merced River with a team of community volunteers and students from the Yosemite Valley Elementary School and NatureBridge, the park's environmental education partner.
After a break from the pandemic, Watershed Council is currently relaunching its water quality monitoring program and is seeking interested community members to volunteer quarterly to collect data along four sites west of the Yosemite boundary: the Sand Pit (above the NPS maintenance complex in El Portal), the South Fork confluence at the Hite Cove trailhead, Briceburg, and Railroad Flat.
Data is collected on the following:
Air + water temperature
pH
Total dissolved solids
Dissolved oxygen
Turbidity
Photo point survey of general conditions
COMING SOON: Nitrates/nitrites and macroinvertebrates
Each water quality monitoring team is given all equipment along with detailed written instructions are included with each kit, outlining protocols to be followed consistently at each site and with each monitoring session. Documentation is collected on data sheets and the results transferred to a spreadsheet. Water quality data is then reported annually to a national database.
The 2025 calendar of quarterly monitoring weekends is as follows:
Feb. 23 @ 11am - TRAINING DAY at Briceburg, Merced River Recreation Area. We'll show you everything you need to know!
May 16-19 (kits are dropped of the 16th, collected the 19th)
August 22-25 (kits are dropped of the 22nd, collected the 25th)
Nov. 14-16 (kits are dropped of the 14th, collected the 25th)
This program is made possible thanks to a River Network Wild & Scenic Rivers Partnership grant and a Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management grant.
