OWW Mission

Ozarks Water Watch is a nonprofit organization that works to preserve the water quality of upper White River watershed, located in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri which include the rivers, streams and four major impoundments: Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals Lakes.

Formed in late 2001 as the Upper White River Basin Foundation, Ozarks Water Watch’s mission is: to promote water quality in the upper White River basin watershed thorough bi-state collaboration on research, public policy and action projects in Arkansas and Missouri.

  1. Coordinate a volunteer monitoring network in streams and lakes throughout the Upper White River watershed. In the Beaver Lake Watershed, we carry out two programs: StreamSmart and LakeSmart volunteer monitoring programs.  This allows us to report to our local county, city, planning and communities about the condition of the water quality over the long term and across the landscape. We hope to use this long term data to better direct water improvement efforts in the future.
  2. Coordinate public education programs, activities and action projects to help people understand their water and protect their local streams, lakes and aquifers.  Education programs and action projects include cleanups, LID demonstration projects, Secchi Day on Beaver Lake, and training environmental educators in water quality concepts.
  3. Promote Best Management Practices to local organizations, homeowners, and public entities to protect water quality.  Best Management Practices are practices that when implemented reduce runoff, nutrient inputs, bacteria inputs, and other non point source pollutants in water bodies.  We promote BMPs through targeted education, blogs, newsletters, and action projects.