Iowa CCI partnered with Izaak Walton League and their Nitrate Watch program to facilitate citizen water testing. We've had great participation with over 200 people ordering test kits and adding data to the Clean Water Hub. It's super simple and we are excited to offer this people powered program again in 2026!
We aim to be strategic with testing and ask Citizen Scientists to test their tap and an outdoor waterway in their area. We also work to build a sense of community for testers where it is possible and makes sense. We want to make this program more robust AND connect people around water quality in their area.
If this community driven science of water testing and data collection sounds like your jam - here's how to get started!
Step One: Click here to order your testing kit from Nitrate Watch! This will come with 25 testing strips and instruction cards to help guide you through testing.
Step Two: Figure out your testing and monitoring plan. What water do you want to test and how often? Here is a link to the Nitrate Watch Monitoring Plan worksheet. This is a helpful resource for making your testing plan.
Step Three: Conduct some water tests! We encourage people to test their tap water AND a local water body.
Step Four: Log your data into the Clean Water Hub database.
Step Five: The monthly Zoom series began again Thursday, March 26! Click here to view the recording. We meet at 5:00pm on the last Thursday of the month through October to build our community of practice. Click here to register for Thursday, April 30 at 5pm.
We hope you will join us to test water and collect data!