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Secchi readings and note their observa- tions of water conditions. In addition, they use a probe and ahand-held meter to measure the temperature of the water and the level of oxygen dissolved in it. Then they take a 2-liter sample of lake water and pour off some of the sample into a small bottle whose contents later will be analyzed at a state laboratory to determine how much phosphorus and nitrogen it contains. Later, onshore, the volunteers pump more of the lake water through a filter and then place the filter in a Petri dish, which they are asked to store in their home refrigerators until the samples are delivered to a lab. Analysis of the filter tells how much chlorophyll was in the water, a measure of algae. An extensive series of partnerships in which the MPCA provides up to $2 million a year to about 40 public and private organizations-soil and water conservation districts, watershed dis- tricts, counties, college and universities and associations of lakeshore owners-to recruit volunteers, and in some cases assign paid staff members, to collect data on lakes and rivers and to contract with private labs to analyze samples. That testing yields data on clarity, E-coli bacteria, chloride, ammonia, suspended solids, phosphorus, nitrogen and chlorophyll. The PCA contracts with Minnesota Waters, a nonprofit group, to train participants in that program. In addition to the MPCA s water monitoring program, the Metropolitan Council has had an extensive lake moni- toring program for more than 25 years. That program now tests water quality in about 2001akes across the seven-county metro area. The council works with about 351oca1 partners-cities, counties and watershed districts-to recruit, train and supervise volunteers. The local partners provide the equip- ment and pay for laboratory analysis. The volunteers conduct Secchi readings and collect samples in a monitoring procedure that is similar to the Pollution. Control Agency's advanced monitoring. The MPCA's Citizen Lake Monitoring Program has volunteers testing clarity on about one-tenth of Minnesota's lakes. The program particularly needs volunteers who live in northern Minnesota or regularly visit cabins there. The program also seeks canoeists heading to the Boundary Waters. The MPCA has information and an application on its web site at: www.pca.state.mn.us/water/clmp.html. Email the program coordinator at clmp@pcastate.mn.us or call 800-657-3864. The MPCA's Citizen Stream Monitoring Program needs volunteers across the state, particularly outside the Twin Cities metro area. Information is available at: www.pca.state.mn.us/water/csmp. html#form. Email csmp@pca.state.mn.us or call 800-657-3864. You may be able to join one of the organizations, such as watershed districts and lake as- sociations, receiving grants from the MPCA to monitor lakes and streams. Email Ron Schwartz at ronaltl.schwartz@state.mn.us or call 651-757-2708. Or you can contact Courtney Kowalczak at Minnesota Waters. Email courtneyk@minnesotawaters.org or call 218-343-2180. ~ If you live in the Twin Cities, you may be able to join the monitoring programs run by cities and watershed districts with the Metropolitan Council.. Participation is limited by the budgets of the part- ners. Contact Brian Johnson at brian.johnson@metc.state.mn.us or call 651-602-8743. If you live in Dakota or Hennepin County and you are interested in wetlands, check out the Wetland Health Evaluation Program at www.mnwhep.org. Or contact Paula Liepold in Dakota County at paula.liepold@co.dakota.mn.us or 952-891-7117, or Mary Karius in Hennepin County at marg. karius@co.hennepin.mn.us or 612-596-9129. There are many other water monitoring programs that use student and adult volunteers. A partial list, with links to some of the programs, is part of a report by the MPCA legislative report. The report, available on the MPCA web site, is titled "Citizen Monitoring of Surface Water Quality." The Met Council posts the test results in its electronic Environmental Manage- ment System, and the lakes are graded each year-A through ~'-based on their average readings for clarity and phos- phorus and chlorophyll content. Volunteers also do extensive environ- mental monitoring in wetlands in two metro counties: Dakota and Hennepin. Participating cities in the two counties pay the cost of the monitoring, and the MPCA provides training. That project, called the Wetland Health Evaluation Program, sends volun- teers into wetlands in June and July. In June, the volunteers, working in teams of five to 20 people, set bottle traps and use dip nets to capture macro-inver- tebrate organisms such as dragonflies, mayflies, leeches, snails and beetles. They classify, inventory and record the popula- tions they find. In July, the volunteers re-visit the wet- lands, mark off 100-square-meter plots and inventory the plant species there. All the data on the invertebrates and the plants are converted into two indices of biological integrity. Each wetland that is monitored is rated on a three-point scale-poor, moderate, excellent-for both macro-invertebrates and vegetation. In Dakota County, about 120 volun- teers monitored 32 wetlands last year. In Hennepin, about 80 volunteers moni- tored 32 wetlands. Helen Goeden of Apple Valley and her husband, Colin Brownlow, and their children have been volunteering in the program since about 2000. Goeden esti- mated she spent about 25 hours, spread across seven or eight evenings, working in the program last summer. Goeden, a Minnesota Health Depart- ment research science who spends her working hours developing standards for ground water purity, said she chooses to devote part of her free time to the wet- lands monitoring because it allows her to share her passion for the environment with her kids and because she thinks all types of water are under-appreciated. "People treat water like it's free, but it's probably the most precious resource we have," she said. FACETS March 2009 `