Some communities have enough interest to warrant a city, county or watershed Adopt-A-Stream program. A community program can coordinate the efforts of many volunteers and provide local insight and resources to water quality protection. A community program will usually be organized by local agencies, such as Clean and Beautiful Commission, a public utility, a college, or a planning department. For examples and contact names of existing programs, check out our list of Community/Watershed Adopt-A-Stream Programs.

To start a community/watershed Adopt-A-Stream program, follow these planning steps:

1. Set goals. Is your community interested in a specific river system? Or all the streams that run through a city? Do you want to focus on raising awareness of water quality issues, having volunteer rank streams or look at trends? Do you want to recruit schools, civic groups, or outdoor clubs? Sit down with partners and interested persons and create a written statement of goals including a mission statement.
2. Identify local partners who will help the program succeed. Partners may offer technical assistance, funds for equipment, coordination of volunteers, recruitment of volunteers, clerical help, or printing assistance. A successful program takes different groups working together. Some programs create specific committees to handle the jobs listed below.
3. Identify a local program coordinator, with a minimum set of hours per week assigned to Adopt-A-Stream activities. OR, share the jobs listed below between partners:
   
   Adopt-A-Stream Jobs
   • Answer questions about the program.
   • Mail out brochures, confirmation of workshop participation, maps to workshop sites and response cards when volunteers send in their data and activity forms.
   • Inform radio and newspapers of the program, advertise workshops, and share program results (publicity).
   • Create and update a mailing list of volunteers, including streams adopted.
   • Keep track of equipment loaned or given out.
   • Store equipment and supplies.
   • Training workshops: schedule workshop dates and trainers, register volunteers, prepare handouts, dispose of chemical wastes.
   • Give water quality talks to schools (optional).
   • Keep track of budget.
   • Enter QA/QC volunteer data into database (optional).
   • Compile volunteer results quarterly and submit to partners and Georgia Adopt-A-Stream.
   • Establish contacts for volunteers to call about water quality questions and to report problems.
   • Request partner support for supplies, equipment, advertising, volunteer groups, funding, access to streams, volunteer awards, T- Shirts, and other needs.
   • Generate community support for your project, establish working relationships with community leaders and local agencies concerned with water quality.
4. Create a map of local water resources (streams, lakes, wetlands, etc.) and mark the streams or sites available for adoption. A topographical or county map works well.
5. Select stream/river/lake sites. Check with Georgia Adopt-A-Stream to make sure the stream or other waterbody is available for adoption. Community programs can assign stream sections, based on safe and legal access, or volunteers can find their own.
6. Identify stream leaders. This is the person from a club or group that will work directly with the local Adopt-a-Steam program and volunteers. Stream leaders may work with their own group only or with several groups along the same stream.
7. Schedule a kick off to announce and explain the new program. Schedule training workshops to follow up with interest generated.
8. Schedule training workshops (using certified Adopt-A-Stream trainers).
   
   
   • Getting Started - Level I Workshop to explain about the program, give some background on water quality and nonpoint source pollution, explain about the 11 steps to set up an AAS project, and then go visit a steam to conduct a Watershed Walk and a visual survey. Approximately two hours.
   • Chemical Monitoring - Level II Workshop approximately three hours.
   • Biological Monitoring - Level II Workshop approximately five hours.
   Rather than having three separate workshops, you can schedule the Level I and Chemical workshops on the same day (generally a four hour workshop). In this way, you are not taking up too much of your volunteers free time and are also keeping interest going.
9. Forward a copy of the quarterly reports and data volunteers sent to you. We want to keep in touch with your efforts.

Also recommended:

10. Design a flyer or brochure that describes your community program.
11. Support volunteers by providing tee shirts and hats or road signs at adopted sites, cookouts after events, a letter of appreciation, etc.
12. Organize local river cleanups or participate in the annual River Clean Up Week held the second week of October.