Supporting NWT communities to become more involved in water monitoring is an important part of implementing the Northern Voices, Northern Waters: NWT Water Stewardship Strategy (the Water Strategy). Community-based monitoring (CBM) fosters a wide range of innovations, including increased awareness of water stewardship issues, improved traditional knowledge collection and application as well as increased direct community involvement in research and monitoring program design.
Watch a You Tube video from the CBM Program on how to take a water sample:
Support for community-based monitoring programs ranges from help with funding and equipment to program design. The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) provides information about monitoring parameters and provides equipment and other monitoring resources for community-based projects. Many of the Aquatic Ecosystem research and monitoring programs help to support community-based monitoring initiatives in the NWT. These programs are all part of the implementation of the Water Strategy and contribute to the overall work towards the goals of the Water Strategy. Across the NWT, communities are participating in monitoring programs and collaborating with Aboriginal groups, environmental organizations, federal and territorial governments, and universities to study the health of the water and the ecosystem.
The NWT-Wide Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Program, the Slave River and Delta Partnership and the Slave Watershed Environmental Effects Program are ongoing community-based water monitoring programs that emerged directly from the Water Strategy and supports the implementation of the Water Strategy action plans under the component Know and Plan- A Collaborative Approach to Community-based Monitoring.