River Watch
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring
The RiverWatch Team is a community science team that conducts monthly monitoring to keep tabs on the health of the San Diego River. Teams meet on Thursday and Friday for monitoring. If you are interested in learning more about the health of the River and the requirements to join the RiverWatch Team, please contact our RiverWatch Coordinator at (619) 297-7380 or by email volunteer@sandiegoriver.org.
View the RiverWatch data and Water Quality Reports in our Online Information Center!
Report a possible water quality issue!
Do you have a concern about water quality or water being wasted? Concerned citizens can play an important role in stopping pollution and water waste by reporting problems at the earliest possible observation! We welcome your help. Click here to go to our Pollution or Water Waste Report page to get help with making a report.
Learn more about water quality monitoring
The RiverWatch team uses a compact electronic sonde to collect real-time data on the temperature, dissolved oxygen content, acidity or alkalinity, conductivity, and nutrient content of water at 16 different locations along the River. These parameters are used to provide a current picture of the health of the River. The monthly monitoring results help provide an ongoing picture of how the River changes from season to season, and how that may affect the habitat, plants, and animals that live in and along the River.
The team also monitors for nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) on a monthly basis at certain locations. In addition to documenting the presence of trash, invasive plants, and riparian fauna, the team now also monitors seasonal changes in river water quality characteristics for such metrics as odor, color, clarity, flow and undesirable substances.
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Interactive ArcGIS StoryMap
Please explore our Water Quality Monitoring Program through an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap. Learn about the scope of the program, explore our monitoring and sampling locations, and discover the water quality parameters we measure to assess the health of our river.
Interactive graphs for each monitoring site allow you to explore water quality data and see how conditions change over time. You can also learn more about the individual metrics we monitor, what they tell us about water quality, and why they are important indicators of river health.
The StoryMap also provides additional information and resources to help you better understand our comprehensive monitoring efforts and how citizen science data can inform meaningful actions to protect and improve the health of our waterways.
Click on photo to view interactive ArcGIS StoryMap