Miami Waterkeeper’s 1000 Eyes on the Water program has empowered members of the community to report pollution since its creation in late 2018. Today, our team is excited to share that we officially have 1000 eyes on the water–we’ve surpassed our goal of training 500 people to watch out for our waterways!
Our staff and researchers are on the water constantly, keeping a lookout and testing water quality at over a dozen sites across Miami-Dade and Broward counties–but we’re a small staff with a lot of waterways to cover, so we need your help to catch water quality issues before they get worse! Our 1000 Eyes on the Water program trains community members like you on how to identify and report pollution to us.
Community members like you have submitted over 350 pollution reports. 57 of these reports caused agency action, resulting in issued violations and infrastructure repair. In the last year, we have made this program virtual and have had an over 600% increase in pollution reports. We also recently launched this program in Spanish.
“With the addition of this online module format, we not only reached the goal of training 500 people, but we have since doubled the number by reaching over 1,000 individuals (2,000+ eyes). This program puts the community at the center of stewarding and protecting the environment with our eyes,” said Collin Schladweiler, our Program Director.
From stopping oil contaminants and sewage leaks to ensuring construction projects mitigate sediment runoff appropriately, our community is stepping up to save the bay by taking this training.
Originally published at https://www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/we_have_reached_1000_eyes_on_the_water