The Connecticut River Watch Program (CRWP) is a volunteer water quality monitoring, protection and improvement program for the Connecticut River and its tributaries. CRWP is sponsored by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District, and was initiated in 1992 in cooperation with River Watch Network (now part of the national organization River Network). The goals of the program are to collect scientifically credible water quality information that can be used to identify and correct water quality problems, and to build public awareness of local river resources and water quality issues.

Over the first eight years CRWP monitoring activities were focused on the lower Connecticut River main stem and two tributary watersheds, the Mattabesset and the Coginchaug. In 1999, CRWP expanded into new watersheds within the Connecticut River basin, and now has active programs in five watersheds.



The program is now a regional support service, whose focus is to initiate, support and coordinate community-based river monitoring, assessment and improvement programs in regional watersheds throughout the basin. Through the program, CRWP continues to put water quality and physical survey information into the hands of local communities, and support efforts to use that information to direct river and other watershed protection and improvement efforts.

CRWP has become a model program, with wide support from the local communities and state and federal environmental officials. In 2000, CRWP received an EPA New England Environmental Merit Award for the program’s “outstanding efforts in preserving New England’s environment,” one of 37 recipients from New England chosen for an award. Program funding comes in part from the DEP through grants from the US EPA under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act. Webpage is forthcoming. For more information Contact us.