C-SAW aims to provide eligible groups and individuals with the skills and tools they need to evaluate, protect, monitor, and, if necessary, restore their watersheds. We offer watershed-specific technical assistance, water quality monitoring assistance, and mentoring assistance.
Watershed Specific Technical Assistance
Technical assistance is available in many project management and scientific areas including:
- Help determining water resources issues.
- Guidance on monitoring design and protocols.
- Cost estimates for assessments.
- Advice on required resources and time estimates to complete a task.
- Macroinvertebrate identification training and collection protocols.
- Training in water chemistry protocols.
Quality Control for Water Quality and Macroinvertebrate Monitoring
Quality assurance and quality control should be essential components of any water quality monitoring program. C-SAW can provide quality control technical assistance to selected watershed organizations across the state for water chemistry and macroinvertebrate identification. This will help ensure that the data collected by the watershed organizations through volunteer monitoring programs is of known quality.
Mentoring Assistance
Rivers are biology, chemistry, and physics moving through geology, topography, and climate. Many watershed groups recognize that a good watershed plan considers not only the chemistry, biology, and physics of a watershed but also addresses the variety of problems seen in a river system.
A small number of watershed organizations in each river basin will be provided with a unique experience — intensive individual watershed mentoring for a one or two-year period. This mentoring will be for organizations interested in starting or improving volunteer monitoring programs for watershed assessments, assessing restoration projects, or developing protection plans.
Selection of watersheds will be based on need, priority and application information provided by the watershed organization. Mentoring will be specific to the needs of the individual group and may include all of the areas listed under Watershed Specific Technical Assistance and Quality Control Assistance.
Other Assistance
C-SAW can also point eligible organizations to assistance provided by other technical experts through Pennsylvania’s Growing Greener program.
