River Watch. Guidelines for carrying out public environmental monitoring

This fourth revised edition of the manual has been prepared by experts from Ecocentrum, the Friends of the Baltic NGO and the Russian Socio-Ecological Union, working in the field of river observation and sustainable river basin management.

The brochure is addressed to activists of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), leaders of groups of schoolchildren engaged in observing the ecological state of rivers and other water bodies, as well as local associations and conscientious citizens who care about the state of natural water bodies.

The brochure presents proven river research methods that are available to schoolchildren or civic activists: from the most basic visual observations to simple physical, chemical and biological techniques.

This methodological guide will allow the reader to:
- see and understand the relationships in river ecosystems;
- learn to assess the degree of human impact on rivers and other natural bodies of water;
- to determine the parameters of the water quality in the river;
- understand the mechanisms of public participation in river management issues, as well as learn how to apply them in practice.

Managing editor: O. Senova. Layout, design: A. Filosofova

Illustrations: photographs of members of the River Watch network of the Gulf of Finland region, graphic drawings from open Internet sources, drawings by A. Katala

4th edition of the manual was prepared and published within the framework of the project "Clean Springs - Healthy Baltic" with the support of the Presidential Grants Fund, the SEVIRA project "Water unites people: we study, we act, we cooperate" within the framework of the CBC 2014-2020 cross-border cooperation program, the Clean Baltic Coalition Water Program in Russia and Belarus with the support of Sida, and the Ecology of Russia program with the support of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature.

https://baltfriends.ru/sites/default/files/2021-02/river_2020int_2.pdf