Texas Stream Team Stories

Picture yourself heading out to face the day. There may be that one special creek you pass over that prompts you to tap the brakes and crank your head to the right to catch a brief glimpse of its presence. In turn, you remember to lay off the pedal and take a deep breath. Is the creek full… dry… raging… steady... healthy... or there at all anymore? You, my friend, are what we like to call a river rubbernecker.  

Texas Stream Team community scientists often seize the opportunity to receive training in monitoring water quality, all while keeping a favorite river in mind. They seek to deepen their understanding of a beloved stream, delving into details about its origin and potential threats. Is it safe to wade or swim? Who are its keepers? 

Texas Stream Team at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is dedicated to understanding and protecting the 191,000 miles of Texas waterways. We bring together community members, students, educators, academic researchers, environmental professionals, and both public and private sector partners to conduct scientific research, promote environmental stewardship and ensure clean and safe water for current and future generations. 

Participating in a Texas Stream Team community scientist water quality monitoring empowers community members to become river guardians in a single 4-hour training session and a subsequent commitment of one hour of monitoring per month. They are trained to measure basic water quality parameters and conduct field observations. Monitoring water quality and making observations about their surrounding environment serve as invaluable tools for comprehending the overall health of a river and its encompassing watershed, while also enabling them to be an advocate within their community. 

Texas Stream Team staff and partners have trained over 12,000 Texans to monitor Texas waterways over the past 31 years. Through this span of time, Texas Stream Team community scientists have formed friendships, made lasting memories and saved rivers in the process. Many community scientists have discovered disturbing bacteria counts, oil sheens, chalky residues, fish kills and more as a result of significant pollution events that, otherwise, may have remained undetected for weeks, months, or years if at all. Others have consistently monitored the same site month after month with no pollution events to report and that’s a very good thing!  

Texas Stream Team water quality data supports academic research, informs policy, and serves as a de facto early warning system for Texas river systems. Community scientists are considered first responders because they are often the eyes and the ears of the river that fill in the gaps of professional water quality monitoring efforts. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 20% of rivers undergo professional monitoring on a quarterly or annual basis. That leaves a lot of room for those who know their local creeks and rivers best to play a pivotal role in their protection.  

Texas Stream Team staff initiated a study in 2023 to seek a deeper understanding of the impact of Texas Stream Team community scientist experiences. We invited community scientists from our email distribution list to complete a qualitative survey via Qualtrics. The survey was also publicized in the Texas Stream Team December 2022 newsletter.  

Key survey components included how community scientists became involved, if they had discovered a pollution event or used the data for advocacy purposes, and if participation brought joy/happiness, and/or impacted their careers (Table 1). The survey contained yes/no questions regarding the discovery of a pollution event, career impacts, desire to share a memory, use the date, etc., and if “yes” was selected, they were prompted to describe how via a free response. The survey concluded with an interview opt-in. 

Those who completed the interview opt-in were contacted for a 30-minute conversation with Texas Stream Team staff. From January to April 2023, staff conducted a series of guided interviews (Litchman, 2009, p. 141) or semi-structured interviews (Qu & Dumay, 2011). Similar questions from the survey were asked, which enabled community scientists to respond in greater detail, and in-conversation probes were used to solicit more elaborate responses for rich data (Qu & Dumay, 2011, p. 241).  

The overall findings of this research will be released upon publication.