Drinking it, letting it splash across my body in a hot shower, watching it bubble over rocks and reflect sparkles of light, hearing it roar down a canyon or babble in a brook.  I show water my appreciation by participating as a river monitor in Hunterdon County.  The EPA collects data about water quality every 10 years.  The Raritan Headwaters Association collects data every year.  This non-profit org monitors the 470 square-mile area that makes up the headwaters region of the Raritan River Basin.

Towards the end of June, volunteers kick up the bottom of the river in designated testing sites.  At certain sites, the current can be treacherous, especially after a Spring rain.  With a net just below their feet, the volunteers kick up the riverbed for a designated period of time.  They haul out a net of tiny squiggly macro-invertebrates.  Into the formaldehyde they go and they’re shipped off to be analyzed.  The greater the number and diversity of macro-invertebrates, the better the water.  Thank heavens people are monitoring our water supplies.

(and thank you for the photo, Kathleen)