IDAH₂O Overview

University of Idaho Extension offers the IDAH₂O Master Water Stewards Program, an innovative, educational program that teaches citizen volunteers about factors influencing water quality and trains them to monitor water quality in wadeable streams and lakes. The IDAH₂O Master Water Stewards Program was launched in the fall of 2010 and has certified more than 80 volunteers. Participants in the program attend an 8-hour workshop that combines classroom instruction on water quality with hands-on field work. Once a volunteer becomes a certified Master Water Steward, he or she may then adopt a stream or lake location to monitor regularly. Monitoring includes habitat, biological, chemical, and physical assessment of the site. All information collected by Master Water Stewards is uploaded to a website that is publicly available. The data collected will be used to help better inform citizens about watershed health.

For more information contact the UI Extension IDAH₂O coordinator, Ashley McFarland, area water quality extension educator, UI Coeur d’Alene. Ashley’s email address is amcfarland@uidaho.edu and her phone number is (208) 292-1287.