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U.S. EPA joins students, teachers, and citizens in San Diego on October 13 to observe World Water Monitoring Day

Release Date: 10/13/2006
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute 213-244-1815

LOS ANGELES - This October 13, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will join students, teachers and citizens in San Diego County to observe World Water Monitoring Day, which celebrates the passage of the Clean Water Act.

The EPA will participate in a regional event coordinated by the San Diego Citizen Watershed Monitoring Consortium and the San Diego Coastkeeper at Old Poway Park, as part of a worldwide effort to engage communities in monitoring local water bodies and improve water quality. Since its inception, more than 80,000 people in 50 countries have participated in World Water Monitoring Day events, which are held throughout October.

This hands-on water monitoring exercise highlights how local citizens are collecting useful water quality information about their favorite stream and waters in their community. “Today’s event will increase awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving water quality. The monitoring event will also be used to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards from the U.S. and Mexico,” said Wayne Nastri, Regional Administrator, EPA Region 9.

“This is an issue of major importance to our community," said Bruce Reznik, Executive Director of San Diego Coastkeeper. “The Clean Water Act has many mechanisms built in for public involvement in watershed assessment, and World Water Monitoring Day is a way for each of us to gather data about local streams and rivers and share these data with other communities around the world.”

Through the bi-national Border 2012 Program, EPA provided funding to the San Diego Coast Keeper to provide water quality test kits to local elementary school, middle school, and high school students from San Diego, as well as a group of high school students who will be visiting from Tijuana. EPA funds were also used to purchase kits for a World Water Monitoring Day event held in Tijuana on October 5th and 6th, which a group of San Diego students from High Tech High had the opportunity to attend.

Students at these events learn how to monitor for water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity, and their results are be shared on-line with other citizen groups around the globe, including Mexico, China, Poland, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Enacted in 1972, the Clean Water Act is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the U.S. It employs a variety of regulatory tools to reduce, control and abate pollutant discharges into the nation’s waterways to protect public health and support the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife.

For more details, visit the San Diego Citizen Watershed Monitoring Consortium website: , Sister Schools of San Diego website: , and EPA’s Office of Water Website, https://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/monitoringmonth.html.