By Lydia Blanchet | Futaleufu Riverkeeper Fellow
Some good news for you: in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, our community-based water quality monitoring program in Futaleufú successfully completed its first month of sampling! After certifying 17 new monitors from around the community at our training clinic in February, we met as a group and defined nine strategic monitoring sites along the Espolón and Futaleufú Rivers. A small group of monitors was assigned to each site, and are now responsible for taking monthly samples at their respective sites. Here in Futaleufú, we are lucky to be quite isolated and still have no reported cases of the coronavirus, so monitors are not restricted in their ability to get out and take samples or meet in small groups. Even so, we implemented a number of safety measures to the program, reducing monitor group size and requiring monitors to sanitize testing kits after each use.
Last week, we completed the first monthly samples for all nine sites, marking a huge milestone for the monitoring program. As monitoring continues over the coming months, we will begin to establish baselines for our measured parameters: pH, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, hardness, and temperature. You can follow along with the results here. This will be an essential tool for us in our ability to advocate for the Espolón and Futaleufú Rivers in the face of rapid development here in Patagonia!
Thank you for making this important work possible with your generous donations!
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