Westchester is a county with unparalleled resources of rivers, lakes and reservoirs, many surrounded by wooded areas. These water resources provide many benefits, such as a drinking water supply for both Westchester and New York City, recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat and sport fishing. In order to protect these resources, it is important to understand the county's water quality so that we gain a better understanding of our environment and we become more cognizant of human impacts to water quality.
The award-winning Westchester County Citizens’ Volunteer Monitoring Program (CVMP) was established in 2003, through Safe Drinking Water Act funding distributed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), in order to create a baseline of water quality data on both lotic (streams and rivers) and lentic (ponds and lakes) waterbodies throughout Westchester County and to make this water quality data accessible to the public. From 2003 through 2010, over 300 adult volunteers and hundreds of students monitored over 40 stream site locations and 12 lakes and created a comprehensive database of water quality information. Volunteer data was found to be a useful tool for understanding local stream and lake health. For more information, go to our program summary report.