Choosing a Testing Location

Define your goals and gather watershed information 

• Do you have suspicion of contamination or concern about location water quality?
• Does a location receive a lot of primary contact recreation?
• Do you want to join an existing water testing group or test a new location on your own?
• Use online resources like Google Maps or the EPA's How's My Waterway website to identify accessible and important locations.
  
• Consider point and non-point pollution sources. 
• View existing and potential new MSWS water testing locations on the map below. 

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Conduct a Stream Walk
CLASS: Use site criteria to determine if a location would make an appropriate monitoring site

• Convenient: Choose a site that is easy for you to access and conduct testing on-location 
• Legal: Be sure to choose a public sampling location, or obtain landowner permission to access or cross private property
• Accessible: Make sure you can access the site with your vehicle to a certain point and then on foot.  It's also important to consider if you will be able to physically collect a sample during different weather and water-depth conditions.    
• Safe: Choose a site that is safe to access, taking into consideration factors like parking, flash flooding, traffic, vegetation density, steep banks, or other hazards. 
• Strategic: Make sure the site you choose strategically aligns with your sampling goals and objectives in an efficient manner. 

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Select your location and submit your Sampling Site Data Form

Sampling Site Data Form

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MSWS Locations Map
Blue pins are locations with current testing volunteers
Purple pins are locations that have been tested in the past
Silver pins are potential testing locations