WVU Launches Mon River Quest

Charleston Gazette
29 December 2011
By The Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia University has launched an initiative involving hundreds of volunteers monitoring thousands of miles of Monongahela River tributaries.

The partnership is called Mon River Quest, and it's intended to detect water irregularities so they can be monitored and alleviated.

WVU is home to the West Virginia Water Research Institute. The research center has already established a monitoring program in cooperation with coal companies.

The expanded monitoring system involves local watershed groups and volunteers to keep an eye on tributaries of the 128-mile-long river.

Scientists say the additional eyes on the river and its tributaries will give a better overall picture of the health of the river basin.

Nearly 1 million people get their drinking water from the river.