Interested in becoming a water quality volunteer?
You can join the Rush River Citizen Monitoring Network (RRCMN). The network was formed in the spring of 2003 to gather water quality information and precipitation data throughout the watershed. Volunteers, who live or work in or near the watershed, are needed to assess the water quality of the Rush River and its tributaries.

2003 Citizen Monitoring Network
In 2003, seven volunteers monitored and submitted data from nine sites. Rush River Assessment Project (RRAP) staff monitored a additional five sites, for a total of fourteen sites. Citizen monitors collected water clarity data with the use of a transparency tube. Volunteers were asked to take a t-tube reading at their selected site after rain events and once weekly. In addition, each of the citizen volunteers was given a rain gage and asked to record daily precipitation.

Volunteer Transparency Tube Sites
From April through September 2003 (or when the channel became dry) fourteen sites were monitored in the Rush River Watershed. The site were located along the following:
Mainstem Rush River- 2 sites
North Branch Rush River – 1 site
Middle Branch Rush River – 5 sites
South Branch Rush River – 2 sites
County Ditches – 4 sites

2003 Transparency Tube Network Results
The average transparency at each monitoring site compared with RRAP water quality monitoring. In general, monitoring sites in the western portion of the watershed had higher transparency readings. The higher readings are attributed to the flatter landscape of western 2/3rds of the watershed. The eastern portion of the watershed had lower transparency readings. These lower transparency tube readings were in the steeply sloped portion of the watershed, where more soil erosion is occurring.

Download the Rush River Citizen Monitoring Network report detailing the program and data (pdf 372 k).