2026 baseline stream training in Sauk County.
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Remember to Submit Your Data! |
Volunteers have spent all summer monitoring their local streams and rivers, collecting invaluable baseline stream data including water temperature and dissolved oxygen. Data collected is then submitted to the Wisconsin DNR's Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS), which is used by DNR staff to enter and search for water quality monitoring information for assessing the health of our state’s waters and to guide water protection and restoration decision-making. How cool is that?
This season, 257 volunteers have submitted baseline monitoring AND nutrient sampling data for 358 stream sites so far!
Thought the monitoring season is not over yet, we strongly encourage volunteers to continue (or start) submitting their data to SWIMS.
Want to dive into more data? Check out all data, current and past, on the WAV Data Dashboard!
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Impaired, In Restoration, Attaining - What Does it all Mean? |
Pie chart showing the % of Wisconsin waters that are healthy, impaired, or in restoration.
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Have you ever heard a body of water referred to as "healthy" or "impaired" and wondered what exactly that means? Here's a very (very) brief explanation!
The federal Clean Water Act requires all states to assess the quality of their surface waters and publish the results to the public every two years and submit a final report to Congress. Surface waters refers to lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands.
The multi-year surface water quality assessment involves 6 basic stages, like determining what kind of surface water a body of water is and what standards/criteria should be used to assess the health of the water body (ex. nutrients like phosphorus, bacteria, metals, degraded habitat, and degraded biology).
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Based on the standards and data available (including SWIMS data!), each body of water is added to one of the three water condition lists:
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- Impaired - Waters that do not meet water quality standards and do not yet have a restoration plan in place.
- Restoration - Impaired waters with a restoration plan in place.
- Attaining/Healthy - Waters assessed for at least one metric and show no impairment for the metric(s) assessed.
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Pie chart showing the % of Wisconsin waters that are health, impaired, or in restoration.
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One thing to note is that waters are often listed as "impaired" or "attaining/healthy" thanks to the availability of new data that we didn't have before for a particular stream, river, lake, or wetland. With such bountiful waters in Wisconsin, volunteers can help monitor more sites and contribute more new data to help us understand the state of Wisconsin's waters!
Fun fact! According to the 2024 Wisconsin Water Quality Report, 82% of Wisconsin's waters are healthy or attaining water quality standards! That's the majority of Wisconsin's waters!
Additionally, a total of 230 waters were newly assessed and all 230 were added to the Waters Attaining Standards List (in other words, not impaired!).
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Thank you Snapshot Day Volunteers! |
2026 Snapshot Day volunteers in Dane County.
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Early this month, volunteers across the state attended Snapshot Day at 25 different locations in Wisconsin! The day was filled with folks collecting meaningful data on the aquatic invasive species in our state. Snapshot Day site leaders will now upload this data to the SWIMS database.
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Our team will also work on compiling data from all Snapshot Day events and will share the results next month. Stay tuned for our next newsletter for the results!
Thanks to all who came out for this year's Snapshot Day!! See you next year!
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| Volunteers during Snapshot Day 2026 looking at AIS in Lincoln County.
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Mark Your Calendars for WI Stormwater Week |
This year's WI Stormwater Week takes place from Sat. Sept. 19th to Sun. Sept. 27th!
What is WI Stormwater Week? Stormwater Week is an awareness
campaign that aims to inform, educate, and engage Wisconsin residents on the topic of stormwater pollution prevention through shared, consistent
messaging.
It's all connected! You may be asking yourself "hmm what does stormwater week have to do with rivers and streams?" Well, when rain or melted snow run into storm drains from our lawns, roads, and roofs, it then flows into our storm drains and waterways, along with fertilizer, debris, and anything else picked up along the way! This can then lead to increased water pollution in our streams and rivers.
How can you get involved? The 2026 Call to Action for WI residents is to check with your local municipality or organization to get involved with an Adopt-a-Storm Drain Program! This program asks residents clear leaves, trash, and other debris around their adopted to drain to ensure only water goes down the drain.
You can find a drain program near you by:
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Calling your City Public Works Department
- Calling your regional Lake or River Alliance
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Hamline University has a nationwide storm drain program that some cities have adopted. Check to see if your city is part of the program here.
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Click the button below to find more event details & registration for WI Stormwater week webinars.
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Have a Stream Monitoring Question? |
Submit a stream monitoring question to WAV for a chance to have it answered in next month's newsletter!
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Help preserve and protect Wisconsin’s streams
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| The Water Action Volunteers (WAV) stream monitoring program is an ongoing partnership between the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in collaboration with over 50 local groups and organizations.
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