Henrico Area Water Quality Samplers (HAWQS)
Welcome to the HAWQS Team!
Henrico Area Water Quality Samplers (HAWQS) is Henricopolis Soil & Water Conservation District’s citizen water monitoring program. Program volunteers perform a variety of water quality tests that measure the overall health of the county’s waterways. The program gives volunteers access to water quality data from many of the county’s waterways. HAWQS is supported by a Citizen Water Monitoring Grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Volunteers are trained to monitor a basic suite of parameters that include: temperature, turbidity, nitrite and phosphate nutrients and e. coli bacteria plating using the Coliscan method. Supplemental trainings and projects are offered throughout the year, such as benthic macro invertebrate monitoring and stream clean up events.