News : Ikes host Iowater event

The Red Cedar Ikes hosted an Iowater event Oct. 1 to help educate area residents.

IOWATER, Iowa’s statewide volunteer water quality monitoring program, was hosted by the Ikes and conducted an “Introductory” IOWATER workshop at the Red Cedar chapter house on Saturday, October 1st.

During the workshop, classroom instruction was combined with hands-on training as the 9 participants (some from as far away as Decorah and Ames) learned how to monitor and assess the quality of our local streams, rivers, and lakes.

IOWATER emphasizes a perspective based on the “watershed,” or the area of land that drains into a body of water. As workshop participants learned, much of the trash, chemicals and other materials used on the land will eventually end up in the water.

Water quality monitoring volunteers were trained to conduct physical and chemical assessments. Physical assessments document the physical attributes of a waterbody, such as temperature and water clarity. Chemical testing includes pH, nitrogen, phosphate, chloride and dissolved oxygen monitoring.

If they choose to do so, a volunteer’s next step will be to select a monitoring site and then take and submit their data to an online database via the IOWATER – http://www.iowater.net – website. All attendees were provided with complete measurement kits to assure consistent data and taught the proper use of each and every item in the kit. Anyone can view data submitted by volunteers, but only certified IOWATER volunteers can enter data.

The workshop registration fees was $20 per person or $30 for a team and covered all program fees, meals, and testing equipment. With the interest and success of the training, a tentative training date of the June 2, 2012 has been set for next year. Please watch the Red Cedar chapter’s website - https://sites.google.com/site/redcedarchapter/ - for further information.