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Volunteers report improving water quality in Clinton River adopt-a-stream sampling
Summary
Volunteer lead Jim Mitchell reported on the Adopt-a-Stream sampling program: he and volunteers sample the Cottrell Drain and other tributaries, collect macroinvertebrate data, and submit results to the Clinton River Watershed Council, which reported an improving trend in 2024 statistics.
Jim Mitchell, lead volunteer for the Adopt-a-Stream sampling in St. Clair Shores, briefed the committee on volunteer water-quality monitoring and sampling results from local drains.
Mitchell said he has sampled the Cottrell Drain for about 15 years and described program procedures: volunteers do timed sampling events, record weather and water temperature and capture macroinvertebrates to assess ecological health. He said the Clinton River Watershed Council now aggregates samples and produces statistics to standardize results and that 2024 data show improving water quality in many monitored sites.
Mitchell described the program’s scale: the watershed council’s Adopt-a-Stream program covers the Clinton River drainage area and has roughly 307 volunteers and about 90 sampling events annually, he said. The program also looks for invasive species and records turbidity, sheen and other observable water conditions during sampling visits.
Committee members praised the volunteers’ long-term data collection and encouraged continued youth involvement in the monitoring program.
