Citizens' Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP)
In 1996, Cook Inletkeeper developed Alaska’s first agency-approved volunteer water quality monitoring program - the Citizens' Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) – to actively involve citizen volunteers in the collection and distribution of important habitat and water quality data. This program has been held up as a model by the State & federal resource managers, and has spawned monitoring by other organizations, Tribal groups, and agencies throughout the watershed, creating the most consistent, coordinated, credible, and cost-effective citizen monitoring program in Alaska. Find out more about the CEMP Partnership of Southcentral Alaska.The objectives of Cook Inletkeeper’s Citizens’ Environmental Monitoring Program are to:
- inventory baseline water quality in the waters of the Kachemak Bay and Anchor River watersheds;
- detect and report significant changes and track water quality trends;
- raise public awareness of the importance of water quality through hands-on involvement.
To promote these objectives, Cook Inletkeeper trains volunteers to collect water quality data for selected parameters that will enhance understanding of overall environmental health and testing methods that have proven successful in citizen-based programs throughout the United States.
Water quality information collected by citizens is managed and analyzed in a relational database, and Inletkeeper produces annual water quality reports, which provide an overview of all citizen-collected data in the Kachemak Bay and Anchor River watersheds.As our volunteers collect full baseline datasets for our streams, we create a baseline water quality report to compile watershed-specific information. Baseline reports for these stream sites will make up the CEMP baseline water quality library for the Kachemak Bay and Anchor River watersheds. We anticipate completion of this library by 2015.
For more information on how to join as a volunteer, contact Rachel Lord at 907.235.4068 x29 or rachel@inletkeeper.org. Volunteer training is held as needed in the spring .
