How To Use The Toolkit

Introduction

So you’re interested in starting a monitoring program. This page outlines the steps invoved in creating a monitoring program from start to finish and will guide you through the toolkit and resources. The toolkit is divided into three major sections; planning, training, and monitoring. You should complete each step in each section before moving on to the next section.

Part 1: Planning

This section contains two sections: Part A: You’ll pick a site, conduct an environmental health and safety survey of that site, and design a plan for monitoring.

Part B: You’ll start preparing your documents for data collection, storage, and sharing. You’ll want to have all these documents prepared before you move on to your monitoring work.

Part 2: Training

  1. Field Prep and Safety Training

  2. Field Work Training

  3. Lab Work Training (process and analyzing samples)

  4. Data analysis and sharing training

Part 3: Monitoring

  1. Lab and Equipment Maintenace guides

  2. End-of-Season Reporting/Data Sharing

  3. Using your prepared documents for field work

We recommend reviewing all aspects of the toolkit first, so you can grasp the work you’ll be doing to execute a monitoring program. The toolkit can also be used in conjunction with the woorkbook/guide for toolkit users, which acts as a place to store your working documents, and provide a workflow suggestion depending on the type of program you are using the toolkit to carry out.

Toolkit FAQ

What’s a hub? A ‘hub’ is a locus for connecting people to water. Hubs work with community scientists to monitor their local waters and support community groups to safeguard and protect their local waters. A hub works four-fold to connect people to water

  1. Working with community members to become local water stewards through regular monitoring

  2. Increasing local water literacy

  3. Safeguarding swimmable waters

  4. Improving access to water for recreational use

Swim Drink Fish has been operating recreational community-based water monitoring programs across Canada since 2018. We’ve found that monitoring has the special ability to connect people to water, and help communities protect the waterbodies they love

Why Rec Water?

Can I use the toolkit for other things?

Explore the Toolkit

  • Section 1a: Planning

    If you’re looking to start monitoring the water at a new location and don’t know where to start. Look here. This section contains information on how to choose a site and create a monitoring plan. This set of resources can be used by all groups.

    Explore

  • Section 1b: Preparing your documents for field work

    This section contains the documents you might want to prepare ahead of the start of your sampling season. You can find downloadable and customizable templates for field data sheets, data management sheets, and a field guide you can customize to add a map of your site, safety considerations, a kit checklist and a common local wildlife sightings index.

    Click Here

  • Section 2: Training for Water Monitoring

    You know what you want to do, but you don’t know how to do it (yet!), explore our training modules to ensure your monitoring work follows our guidelines and standards for recreational water quality monitoring

    Exlpore Training Modules

  • 4. Tools for recreational water Quality Monitoring

    Swim Drink Fish has found that monitoring our waters for recreational use has a special power to connect people to the water they love. At the core of the Swim Drink Fish hubs is community-based recreational water monitoring. Explore all the tools we’ve developed to bring recreational water quality monitoring to communities.

    Click Here

  • 5. Complementary Monitoring Programs

    If you’re looking to monitor for more than one water quality parameter, explore some other resources from around the network that you may be interested in using!

    Make It