Colorado Watershed Assembly Commitment

The Colorado Watershed Assembly is an advocate and support network for local citizen watershed groups across the state. We are committed to work collaboratively with government, industry and academia to protect, conserve and enhance the natural resources of local communities for the benefit of all stakeholders. We will encourage healthy communities through healthy watersheds by managing our River Watch volunteer water quality monitoring program to educate middle and high school students as well as volunteer adult teams on the value and importance of clean water. As the largest generator of water quality data in the state we will continue to make our data available to anyone and encourage other collectors of data to post their results on our Data Sharing Network. We will provide technical and facilitative assistance to local citizen groups to build consensus through watershed planning and implement multi-beneficial projects based on sound science. We will engage the oil & gas industry to work cooperatively with citizen groups to disclose the ingredients of fracking fluids and assist communities in monitoring their surface and subsurface water resources while improving local economies and energy independence. We will educate citizen groups through our free weekly e-newsletter network to provide information on funding opportunities, training programs, conferences, events, resources and watershed news. Our new Measureable Results Program will monitor the physical characteristics of newly implemented stream and riparian restoration projects to identify values and gage the success of project goals. Our organization will take a leadership role in the establishment of a regional geographic initiative for the Rocky Mountain Headwater States to proactively protect the source that supplies freshwater to 21 states and two other countries.