Adopt A Stream

Interested in getting your hands dirty to help keep our streams clean? Attend a free one-day training workshop to get started as a volunteer and help monitor water quality in the Upstate. To find out when the next training workshop is being held in your area, please view the calendar at the SC Adopt A Stream Program. You can become trained in one or all of the following types of stream monitoring: chemical monitoring, bacterial monitoring (E. coli), and biological monitoring (macroinvertebrates).

This hands-on activity is an excellent educational tool that is perfect for schools, scouting groups, faith-based groups, and other community organizations. Participants sample a stream each month and enter the results on a website. These sampling results help evaluate water quality conditions, establish baseline conditions, and quickly identify possible contaminants or problems.

Upstate Forever has worked with several partner organizations to bring this Adopt-A-Stream program from Georgia to the Upstate. Due to our great success in the Upstate, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Quality (SC DHEC) and the Clemson Center for Watershed Excellenceexpanded the program statewide in Spring 2017.

Photo: Ben Geer Keys