World Water Monitoring Day in Washington
By Sherry Hazelhurst and Ellita Harrington

On September 18, the Forest Service and 22 other partners and exhibitors, participated in World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) at Hains Point, Washington D.C. 

The Washington Office’s Watershed, Fish, Wildlife, Air and Rare Plants, Office of Communication, and Conservation Education staffs combined their resources to make this event a memorable one. 

Forest Service exhibitors reached students and teachers, including those from Kimball Elementary and the Hebrew Day School, with a message about the importance of healthy forests in maintaining good water quality and quantity.

Ben Grumbles, Environmental Protection Agency’s Assistant Administrator for Water, was thoughtful in acknowledging the Forest Service for its participation and on-going partnership in water monitoring.

Last year, the Forest Service signed a Memorandum of Agreement with EPA to increase coordination of efforts to manage, protect, and restore the health of the Nation's water resources.

During the past year, the Forest Service has collaborated with the EPA to test new methods of addressing impaired waters, validate existing impairments, and collect water quality monitoring data.

“This year’s WWMD was so meaningful. The students inspired us to do more and contribute to a growing national movement to bring kids to nature,” said Ron Dunlap, Assistant Director, Fish and Water Conservation. “Each participating agency shared a common goal—getting people interested in their water from the global to local levels and exposing children and their educators to natural water resources in their environment.”

World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.  

The WWMD Web site registers individual sites and accepts data entry from the field.  The WEF and IWA will produce a final report to share the results.