News Release U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey		Address NH/VT District 361 Commerce Way Pembroke, NH 03275
Release October 10, 2002	Contact Debra Foster	Phone 603-226-7837	Fax  603-226-7894

HOPKINTON—To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Geological Survey will be demonstrating local stream and water-quality data collection and on-going monitoring efforts in New Hampshire on National Water Monitoring Day, October 18, 2002. The demonstrations will be held in Hopkinton, N.H. at 10:00 am at the USGS Contoocook River stream-gaging station on Rt. 127 just downstream of the Hopkinton Dam. Students from a local community school will be joining the USGS to help collect samples

For directions to the station, visit the NH/VT District Web site at http://nh.water.usgs.gov/gauge_station/directions.htm. This event is free and open to the public.

National Water Monitoring Day is a nationwide program created to mark the 30^th anniversary of the initial passage of the Clean Water Act.  The effort is coordinated by America’s Clean Water Foundation, in cooperation with several other environmental groups and governmental agencies across the country.

USGS is excited to join thousands of volunteers and water-resource professionals across the country to sample the quality of our waters. To accomplish this important task, our USGS staff will be on hand to help test the waters and to serve as resource guides for others who join this effort. While comprehensive monitoring goes on all year, never before has such an event been scheduled to occur on one day across the nation.

'One of the important lessons learned from the past 30 years is the need for grassroots participation in caring for the natural resources that benefit us locally," said Robert M. Hirsch, USGS's Associate Director for Water. Government efforts alone are no longer enough. What each of us doe on a daily basis affects water quality. Impacts of pollutionupstream in a river can adversely affect people hundreds of miles downstream. All citizens are part of the solution. This is why the national monitoring partnership of the public, state and local governments, and federal agencies is so important.”

The day’s efforts will be relatively easy and fun to carry out. Routine measurements will be collected in the field, including for dissolved oxygen, pH (acidity), turbidity/clarity, andtemperature. USGS and other experienced monitors will complete some of the more technical analyses such as magnitude and velocity of stream flow.

To learn more about National Water Monitoring Day activities, contact Debra Foster at (603) 226-7837 or visit the USGS Web site at http://nh.water.usgs.gov. Visit the Year of Clean Water website www.yearofcleanwater.org to learn more about other Year of Clean Water activities.

USGS scientists will be collecting water quality samples and making streamflow measurements of the Contoocook River as these scientists are doing in this photograph.