World Water Monitoring Day™ (WWMD) is an international education and outreach program to build public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.
An easy-to-use test kit enables everyone from children to adults to sample local water bodies for a core set of water quality parameters including temperature, acidity (pH), clarity (turbidity) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Results are shared with participating communities around the globe through the WWMD Web site.
You can learn more about global water resources by listening to "This Thing Called Water", a webcast featuring Bill Bertera, recently retired executive director of the Water Environment Federation. The webcast focuses on the importance of water to everyday life and our need to access fresh, clean, untainted water sources.
You won't be alone -- more than 120,000 people from 81 different countries participated in World Water Monitoring Day in 2009! Officially celebrated on September 18, the monitoring window was extended from March 22 (World Water Day) until December 31 to increase participation from across the globe.
PerkinElmer uses WWMD as a way to engage employees in their communities. Employees work with local schools and associations to implement WWMD testing activities as well as evaluate results. In 2011 testing activities will take place in communities around Shanghai, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Mexico City as well as across Europe and the United States.
By sharing test results from your community you'll help improve global awareness of water quality. The more people that know about the quality and health of our world water supply, the greater our collective efforts can be to clean it and keep it safe. Host your own WWMD event. It’s easy. Just follow the link for more information. Water test kits may be purchased by contacting WWMD.
Participants are encouraged to celebrate with WEF and IWA in September or to observe their own WWMD anytime during the extended window. The deadline for submitting data to the WWMD database is December 31. Join us in supporting a cleaner, healthier environment by getting everyone involved -- your kids, family, friends and neighbors and test the water in your local rivers, lakes or streams, and then be sure to
submit your results.