Volunteer Opportunities

Storm Drain Stenciling

A fun way to serve your community is to make fellow citizens aware of stormwater runoff pollution by stenciling storm drain inlets. Many people mistakenly believe that stormwater runoff is treated before emptying into nearby waterways. These painted messages remind residents of the link between streets and a waterway’s health. It’s a community effort with lasting effects. For more information, please download this informational handout (PDF).

Stream Monitoring  

Pursuant to Virginia’s Save Our Streams (SOS) program discussed below, the Department of Development Service’s Division of Stormwater Management is now offering citizens an opportunity to participate in its brand-new Citizens Stream Monitoring Program. 

County staff, certified as stream monitors, will train volunteers how to assess local streams by analyzing benthic macroinvertebrates - small creatures like insect larvae that live in the water. These creatures are sensitive to water quality changes, so by identifying which species are present, volunteers will learn how to calculate a “stream health score,” which provides an overall picture of the stream’s condition. 

The goal of this hand-on program is to raise public awareness about stream conditions, the sources of water pollution, and the impact of pollution on local water quality, while providing opportunities for community members to actively participate in meaningful data collection and stream monitoring efforts. 

County staff will share the collected data with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to help fill in data gaps where current stream monitoring efforts have not yet been initiated.

Please click here to sign up!

YES! I want to be a Stream Monitoring Volunteer

Save Our Streams (SOS)  

The biggest threat to good water quality in local rivers, creeks, and streams is polluted stormwater runoff from:

• Construction Sites
• Business or Residential Lawn Areas
• Farm Fields
• Industrial Sites
• Parking Lots

Why? Because stormwater runoff picks up bacteria-containing animal waste, lawn fertilizers, automobile fluids, household and other chemicals, sediment, trash, and debris as it flows - untreated - directly to local receiving waters. All of these pollutants degrade the receiving waters and often make them unsafe for fishing, swimming, or for use as a source of drinking water. In addition, they damage the aquatic habitat for the fish and other critters that live there.

Since most of the nation’s streams are not monitored for pollution, it is hard to know about water quality at the local level. However, the Izaak Walton League of America operates a volunteer program to help determine the water quality in the streams, rivers, and creeks across America. Their Save Our Streams (SOS) program is a nationwide effort that supports watershed education through outreach programs. Over the past 30 years, SOS has educated and motivated people to clean up neighborhood streams, monitor stream health, and protect the local wetlands. This unique opportunity is available for students, scouts, and families to become trained to monitor local streams and rivers. You could end up developing a monitoring network in your own community. For more information, visit the Virginia Save Our Streams website.

Clean Valley Council (CVC)

The Clean Valley Council (CVC) provides educational programming and citizen participation events to spread the word about litter prevention, recycling, conservation, and protecting the region’s natural resources. The CVC hosts and participates in a variety of events for which you can volunteer, such as Clean Valley Day, Fall Waterways, Earth Summit, and a host of others! To learn more, please visit the CVC website.

Adopt-a-Highway

Work with the Virginia Department of Transportation to keep Roanoke County litter-free! Participate in spring or fall clean-up events or create your own. The Adopt-a-Highway program provides an opportunity for you or your family, business, or civic group to clean up litter, which helps to keep the area’s waterways trash-free! For more information, click here:  http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/prog-aah-default.asp