Early Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Volunteer Water Monitoring Programs in the United States and Canada.

ABSTRACT: Volunteer water monitoring programs generate new scientific knowledge, contribute data to decision-making processes, and increase social networks, technical knowledge, and skills of participants. Declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the ability of these programs to continue to engage volunteers to achieve such outcomes. A national water monitoring network hosted a brainstorming webinar to facilitate communication across programs to identify potential solutions to pandemic-influenced challenges. Following that webinar, a survey of United States and Canadian volunteer monitoring programs that was conducted about 3 months into the pandemic revealed that 72% of 80 responding programs planned to carry on through the 2020 field season despite most having experienced delayed starts. Ot

SUBMITTER: Stepenuck KF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9349743 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature