Partners of Scott County Watersheds and the Izaak Walton League of America have teamed up to bring the Nitrate Watch and Salt Watch program to Scott County. These programs help organizations like us gather more chemical water quality data results in order to best serve our communities, implement projects, and put together mitigation plans for any streams that are degrading.
Nitrate is formed when nitrogen combines with oxygen in water. It occurs naturally in plants, including in many vegetables that we eat. It also comes from human-made sources, including fertilizers, animal feedlots, and sewage.
Your Nitrate Watch kit will include a bottle of 25 easy-to-use test strips, plus two postcards with all the information you need to take nitrate readings and submit your results. To use your kit, you’ll need access to a stream, and a computer or smartphone so you can submit your findings. Have more questions? Check out the FAQ page.
Road salt is important for helping people travel safely in the winter. But road salt doesn’t stay on roads: it washes off into streams, where it damages the quality of our drinking water and hurts critters that aren’t adapted to life in salty environments.
Your Salt Watch kit will include four easy-to-use test strips, plus a postcard with all the information you need to take salt readings and submit your results. To use your kit, you’ll need access to a stream, a small container (like a juice glass) to hold some water, and a computer or smartphone so you can submit your findings. Have more questions? Check out the FAQ page.
Requesting a Nitrate Watch and/or Salt Watch kit will allow you to become a citizen scientist by testing your neighborhood streams, collecting the chemical date, and submitting the results for Nitrate, Nitrite, and/or Chloride to the Clean Water Hub. Request a kit by filling out the form below.
Before you do request a Watch Kit, please consider the following pledges for each program.
As a Nitrate Watcher, I pledge to:
- Use ALL 25 test strips in my FREE Nitrate Watch kit to test nitrate levels in my local waterways
- Add my findings to the Clean Water Hub national database
- Share my knowledge about nitrates and water pollution with family, friends, and neighbors
As a Salt Watcher, I pledge to:
- Reduce my road salt use at home and seek out safe alternatives when I can
- Share my knowledge about road salt and water pollution with my family, friends, and neighbors
- Use my FREE Salt Watch kit to test salt levels in my local waterways and add my findings to a national database
These test kits are for residents in Scott County, Iowa.
*Information on the page are from the Izaak Walton League of America’s Salt Watch and Nitrate Watch programs*