Volunteer Opportunity: Water Sampling Workday
Friday, Jan. 30th - Conewago Watershed
Our Partners Stroud Water Research Center and Penn State Ag Center are coordinating a workday on Friday, January 30th in the Conewago Watershed. Please read below and if interested or want more information contact Katie Bartling at kfb5680@psu.edu.
For the start of 2026, we are aiming to conduct a Conewago Synoptic Sampling Day to coincide with Stroud Water Research Center’s Winter Salt Snapshot on Jan 30th. During this event we will collect our normal synoptic water samples as well as the additional chloride and conductivity data as part of the road salt monitoring initiative.
Friday January 30th 9am till about 1pm
@9:00 AM at the Conewago Rail Trail Parking Lot on Route 230 – Conewago Recreation Trail to Lebanon Valley Rec Trail -(40.164347, -76.640930). Address: 2385 N Market St, Elizabethtown, PA 17022
More info on the Conewago Sampling: In 2020, Penn State researchers (Dr. Jon Duncan, Matt Royer and team), established a quarterly synoptic sampling program for the watershed that stretches from Mt. Gretna area to Falmouth, PA. (The mainstem of Conewago Creek drains into the Susquehanna R. at Falmouth, PA.) This program includes a citizen science component where local community members and partner organizations come together for a one-day event to collect surface water samples from 30 locations, later analyzed for nitrogen, nitrate, phosphate, chloride, and total carbon at the PSU Duncan lab. Our collective effort highlights the importance of local water quality partnerships and contributes valuable water quality data to help investigate long-term trends.
Be sure to watch the Video for synoptic sampling procedure and map - https://support.agconservation.psu.edu/sampling/ Link
we will likely skip an in-person synoptic demo to save time. Experienced samplers will be on every team.
The Synoptic sampling interactive map is still also located here: Synoptic Sampling 2023 (arcgis.com)
*For fall 2025 and winter 2026, we will also be collecting samples as part of the Stroud salt snapshot, procedure for that will be presented day of. https://stroudcenter.org/salt/ Link
Please Arrive by 9am, and we will meet our teams, distribute sampling supplies and talk about salt snapshot. Please plan to carpool with your team if possible.
Landowners will be notified prior to sampling.
We try to sample at baseflow conditions- Bring knee boots, hip boot or chest waders (one person on the team will likely need tall boots or chest waders.)
Dress for the weather, bring sun/rain protection, lunch/snacks/water
Safety is our number one priority! Do not do anything/walk over terrain, ice or wade into a section that you do no feel comfortable. No sample is worth risky field conditions. We will pause/cancel work during thunderstorms or inclement weather.
Feel free to share this invite and reach out with questions.