The Texas Real Estate Advocacy and Defense (TREAD) organization is seeking water quality citizen scientists to conduct surface water quality monitoring to study the impacts of Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP) construction.
“This project will require collecting water samples to evaluate water quality of streams and rivers as well as document any impact that construction of the PHP is having in local waters. TREAD has been in contact with landowners who have granted permission to access their properties to conduct this project. This project is being led by Jenny Blair of Blair Wildlife Consulting and will be the point of contact for any permissions, instructions, or directions to the property and relevant protocols for navigating the properties and collecting samples,” TREAD Executive Director Jessica Karlsruher said.
Please keep the following in mind when volunteering to participate in this project:
- Anyone certified under the Texas Stream Team program as a water quality citizen scientist can monitor.
- Texas Stream Team requests citizen scientists reactivate existing sites in their areas before requesting new sites to be created. This is to encourage the continuous monitoring of a site that may already have historical data tied to the area. Inactive and Active sites can be viewed on the Texas Stream Team Datamap.
- If there is not an existing inactive site, the certified citizen scientist can request for a new site to be created by completing our new online Monitoring Site Request Form.
- Texas Stream Team requests citizen scientists complete the Private Property Access Form to request permission from landowners to monitor water quality on private property. Please submit this form to Texas Stream Team.
- Citizen scientists interested in monitoring would need to already have access to a kit or be willing to purchase Texas Stream Team approved monitoring supplies. All equipment details and information can be found on the Texas Stream Team Equipment site.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Jenny Blair at jenny@blairwildlife.com. Jenny will be reaching out to you to confirm details of your assignment.
Please remember, citizen scientists that are healthy and willing to monitor are welcome to do so, provided, they remain six feet away from others while doing so. We advise that you follow your best judgement with regards to monitoring, scheduling, and hosting trainings until further notice and ask that you remain in compliance with state and local orders.
Please contact us with any questions or concerns at TxStreamTeam@txstate.edu.