Development and Evaluation of a Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Program in Mississippi

Authors

• Beth H. Baker, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
• Lily Langstaff, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
• Mona Dominguez, Auburn University Water Resources CenterFollow
• Sergio Ruiz-Cordova, Auburn University Water Resources CenterFollow
• Eric Sparks, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
• Madison Gnoose, Mississippi State UniversityFollow

Volume

64

Issue

1

Abstract

Community-based water monitoring (CBWM) programs provide mechanisms for education and water quality data collection. In this pilot program, we adapted a long-standing CBWM program from Alabama to Mississippi. We assessed the efficacy of the initial program implementation in promoting changes in knowledge, skills, and behavior of participants. Results indicated that 94% of survey respondents reported increased knowledge, 96% reported learning a new skill, and 99% reported an intention to start monitoring, but only 33% engaged in active monitoring. This evaluation summary offers data-driven strategies to expand and adopt CBWM into Extension curricula that build knowledge, skills, and capacity for community water resource conservation.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

BB, MD, SRC, and ES conceived and designed the program. BB, MD, SRC, and ES developed methodology for program implementation and evaluation. Data collection was performed by BB and MG. BB and LL conducted the formal data summary. BB and LL drafted the original manuscript. BB, MD, SRC, and ES contributed to data interpretation, critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, and all authors approved the final version for publication.

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Baker, B., Langstaff, L., Dominguez, M., Ruiz-Cordova, S., Sparks, E., & Gnoose, M. (2026). Development and Evaluation of a Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Program in Mississippi. Journal of Extension, 64(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.5686