Click Here to Watch a short Documentary of The Advanced Water Team Program

The Advanced Water Team Program, supported by the WELL Project (Water and Energy Learning Lab), was developed for interested students to participate in research and monitoring programs on watersheds in our community while at the same time providing our partnering agencies with quality data on creeks and rivers in the region.

Currently the high school level teams (grades 9-12) specialize in water quality, in-stream habitat/riparian assessment, and well water testing. Over the past 10 years we have expanded the program to include middle school (grades 7-8) teams who participate in on-the ground riparian restoration and monitoring projects.

Goals of our Program

• Develop and implement long-term watershed monitoring programs in collaboration with the Mckenzie Watershed Council and other local and state entities interested in protecting waer resources in the community
• Provide students with an in-depth understanding of the issues and current methodology for  collecting high quality data related to water resource management  
• Develop and maintain a state-of -the-art water lab to support the program
• Produce high quality, reliable data using small teams of students that are engaged throughout their time at high school (and in some cases middle school)
• Tailor our programs to the needs of our partnering agencies
• Serve as an outreach tool to private stakeholders to engage them in watershed protection and restoration work