Lyn Crighton, The Watershed Foundation’s Executive Director, prepares to show Becky Hartman and Robin Boyer where they will be getting water samples.

NORTH WEBSTER — The weather for the day was perfect for 174 volunteer citizen scientists to get water samples at 98 sites in the 246-square mile Tippecanoe Watershed in one day. These volunteers participated in the first Snapshot Monitoring Day, hosted by The Watershed Foundation.

The volunteers included 110 students from Washington STEM Academy, Warsaw, and North Webster Elementary. The volunteers stopped in between 2 and 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, at one of three staging sites: Center Lake, Warsaw; Crooked Lake Biological Center in Whitley County; and North Webster Community Center, to receive instructions and necessary equipment. Each group was given a cooler and ice packs for water samples, testing kit for getting dissolved oxygen levels, thermometer and a large turbidity tube to check for turbidity or transparency readings.

From the left, Hayden McCloskey, Grant Hoffert and Madisson Heinl get instructions on the testing they will do in the field from Nancy Brown, right,

The sites included wetlands, large streams, small ditches and culverts. The sites were assessed previously for safety and difficulty of access.

The citizen scientists were sent out to specific locations to gather temperature readings, dissolved oxygen levels and transparency readings. Water samples were taken at each site and brought back to the staging areas for further testing. These tests included nitrate, nitrite, E.coli, orthophosphate and PH testing. The data gathered will be used to drive action for clean water.

“This data will be evaluated and shared to protect our lakes and make them healthier for today and the future,” explained Lyn Crighton, TWF’s executive director. “We test the streams that come into the lakes because the pollution begins in the watershed. We can work with landowners to stop pollution at its source on the land before it reaches our lakes.”

Thus far there have been multiple sites where E.coli was found.

Dr. Terry Frederick collects a sample near the tri-lcounty nature preserve

“It was a beautiful day and it was wonderful to see so many people working for the betterment of our watersheds. Thank you to all who helped to make this day a huge success,” said Dr. Terry Frederick, TWF board president.

Rick Edgar was one of several volunteers who reside outside the Tippecanoe Watershed. “I saw the ad that volunteers were needed. It sounded interesting and I’ve never done anything like that. So I signed up. This is my first time, so I don’t know what I’m doing other than the instructions given,” he laughed. His teammate, Diana Clark, agreed with Edgar. “It sounded interesting so I said let’s try it.”

Funders for the event included: K21 Health Foundation, Arrowhead Resource Conservation and Development and K.E.Y.S., a program of the Kosciusko Community Foundation. Special partners included lean Waters Partnership, Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District, Washington STEM Academy, North Webster Elementary School, Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams and IPFW.