Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® is proud to partner with the IZAAK Walton League of America (IWLA) to join their Nitrate Watch program. Nitrate Watch is a participatory science program aimed at measuring the concentrations of nitrogen found in water bodies within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® is thrilled to expand its monitoring of the Bird, Bush, Middle, and Gunpowder River Watersheds to include nitrogen and assist IWLA in its mission to collect more data.
Why Monitor Nitrogen?
Nitrogen is a natural occurring compound that is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Human activities can cause unnatural amounts of nitrogen to end up in nearby waterways. As winter slowly gives way to the warmer weather of Spring, farmers will turn to the application of fertilizers and manure to help ensure their yield. As nitrogen moves through the environment, natural processes convert nitrogen into another form called nitrate. Excess nitrate that is not used by the plants, is then carried away by runoff after it rains right into a nearby stream our river. Excess nitrate can have disastrous impacts on the environment, as large nitrate concentrations are usually the suspect when it comes to the creation of harmful algal blooms, fish kills, and dead zones. Human health impacts of excessive nitrate consumption can lead to thyroid disease and birth defects.
What is Nitrate Watch
The goal of nitrate watch is to provide organizations and community residents with test kits that allows anyone to go to their favorite fishing or swimming hole to test for nitrogen. Nitrogen can come from a number of places, some of which can be tricky to track down. Identifying if Nitrogen is present or not can help determine potential sources and more importantly potential solutions.
We need your help to understand the where and in what concentrations nitrogen can be found in our watersheds. This an opportunity for you to provide Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® and the Izaak Walton League crucial data which can help spot pollution and lead to change in our local environment. Directions for collecting data from your local streams and uploading that data to the Clean Water Hub will all be provided by IWLA or Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER®.
How to get involved
- Volunteer With Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® : Fill out the volunteer registration form at the bottom of this page and we will work on getting you your own test kit where you can upload your data within the Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® network
- Request your own Nitrate Kit from IWLA: Follow the link to the IWLA website and fill out the form to request your own kit. If you wish to be unaffiliated with any group than than this would be the preferred method (If you request your own kit you can still provide data as a member of Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER®.
To learn more about nitrate watch and how to get involved please visit their website using the following link: https://iwla.org/nitrate-watch/