January

As we begin the new year into 2026, our team is excited to introduce our newest 2026 BSWC members, Callie Nelson and Paige Weigand. Callie is serving with the Monitoring Montana Waters (MMW), and Paige is serving with the Pesticide Stewardship Partnership Program (PSPP). If you monitor as a part of our MMW program this year, you will engage with both Paige and Callie as we work to keep our watersheds healthy! 

In reflection of the previous year, it's time to interpret the results from 2025 water samples and submit water quality data to the Montana EquIS Water Quality Exchange (MT-eWQX). The data are then submitted to EPA’s Water Quality Portal and available for the public to view.

All 2025 data funded by MMW must be uploaded to the MT-eWQX portal by February 28th, 2026. We require a copy of your final workbook and a copy of your final report to be submitted to WQX. Step by step guidance for uploading your data to MT-eWQX can be found on the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) website. Tutorial videos for creating graphs to visualize water quality data can be found on the Montana State University (MSU) website. MSU also has a series of tutorial videos for uploading data into the MT-eWQX and working through the Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD). If you have questions for submitting the EDD, please attend the Volunteer Monitoring EDD Submission Q&A Sessions on January 26th or February 12th from 9am to 10am (MT).  If you have any further questions while completing your data upload and/or analysis, please contact us at mmw@flbs.umt.edu.

If you are seeking financial support for your monitoring group, MMW provides two types of financial support for citizen-led watershed monitoring groups. Firstly, MMW offers up to $7,000 per calendar year in lab analysis funding which includes costs for shipping and analyzing water quality samples. Secondly, MMW offers up to $1,500 that is available every three years for gear funding.   

Applications for our funding are due March 1st, 2026. We strongly recommend that new groups submit a draft Sampling Analysis Plan (SAP) and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by February 1st, 2026 to MMW. For groups who sampled in the previous year, we require a copy of your final workbook that is submitted to MT-eWQX and a copy of your final report before you submit your 2026 funding application.