Patoka Lake watershed group offers free riverwatch training June 17

The Patoka Lake Watershed Committee will bring free Hoosier Riverwatch training to Dubois on June 17, giving local volunteers a hands-on way to learn how water quality is measured in the Patoka Lake watershed.

The eight-hour session runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Patoka Lake Regional Water & Sewer District office in Dubois. It will include both classroom instruction and a field session, with participants learning water sampling methods as part of the state Riverwatch program.

That training matters in a watershed where Patoka Lake sits at the center of daily life for anglers, property owners and the communities that rely on it for drinking water. Indiana officials say Patoka Lake is the state’s second-largest reservoir, covering 8,800 acres, and supplies drinking water for more than 65,000 residents in nine southwest Indiana counties. The lake has also been listed as threatened for drinking water use in EPA assessment data for several years.

Hoosier Riverwatch, run by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Water Quality, has been operating since 1996. Statewide, the program says it has more than 3,000 trained stream monitors and more than 31 certified instructors.

The basic workshop covers aquatic habitat and chemical and biological assessment techniques. Volunteers learn how to look at macroinvertebrates, oxygen, pH, nutrients, habitat and flow, then use that training to collect data from streams and tributaries that feed into larger waterways. Participants receive a printed manual, a certification card and access to the program’s online database, along with eligibility to use monitoring equipment and teach others.

That database now includes habitat, chemical and biological sampling from more than 1,800 river and stream sites across Indiana since the summer of 2000. For Dubois County, where the watershed includes farms, agricultural land, small towns and the geologic features that drain into Patoka Lake, those measurements can help spot changes in runoff, erosion and water quality before they become larger problems.

Dubois County Soil and Water Conservation District says its work focuses on reducing soil erosion and promoting clean water, a mission that fits closely with the watershed committee’s effort to build local monitoring skills. State watershed management plans are intended as a first step toward improving water quality in Indiana rivers, lakes and streams.

For residents who live near the lake, fish its waters or own property in the watershed, the June 17 class offers a direct way to help watch over a drinking-water source that serves much of southwest Indiana.