A total of 212,502 people across six continents celebrated World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) 2010, according to the co-ordinators, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA). This represents a 73 percent increase in programme participation compared to 2009.
WWMD is officially observed each year on 18 September. Participants can monitor the quality of their local streams, rivers or lakes and report data to the WWMD database between 22 March (World Water Day) and 31 December.
Published on: 10/02/2011
A total of 212,502 people across six continents celebrated World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) 2010, according to the co-ordinators, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA). This represents a 73 percent increase in programme participation compared to 2009.
WWMD is officially observed each year on 18 September. Participants can monitor the quality of their local streams, rivers or lakes and report data to the WWMD database between 22 March (World Water Day) and 31 December.
As an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world, WWMD engages citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies. Although some participants acted as individuals, many took part with schools, universities, civic, environmental, and faith-based groups. Data was reported from 85 countries, up four from the 81 logged in 2009, including the United States with 2,931 monitored sites, followed by Spain (1,485), Romania (301) and Malaysia (290).
Participants tested for four key water quality indicators: dissolved oxygen (DO), pH (acidity), temperature, and turbidity (clarity). Some groups also monitored for the presence of macroinvertebrates like dragonflies, mayflies and scuds. Throughout 2010, the programme distributed more than 16,500 WWMD monitoring kits worldwide—500 more kits than in 2009.
The largest number of participants (86,242) came from Malaysia. Developing countries with more 1,000 participants included Cameroon (14,599), India (7,032), Togo (2,556) and Indonesia (1,638).
Table taken from the World Water Monitoring Day 2010 Year in Review
WEF and IWA received financial and in-kind support from the program’s primary sponsors including the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PerkinElmer, ITT Corporation, Sinclair Knight Merz, and Smithfield Foods.
For more information read the World Water Monitoring Day 2010 Year in Review.
Web site: World Water Monitoring Day
Source: WEF, 08 Feb 2011
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