Community Science Institute

The Community Science Institute is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower citizens to monitor and protect water resources for sustainable management.

We operate a state-certified water quality testing lab and partner with groups of volunteers to monitor water quality in New York’s Finger Lakes region and Southern Tier.

Our online database holds thousands of certified data items for free use and download by municipalities, researchers, and citizens.

Certified Water Testing

Volunteer Stream Monitoring

Reliable Data

Help protect your watershed by becoming a CSI member!  Sign up!

Community Science Institute
The Community Science Institute (CSI) is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization whose mission is to empower local people to understand their environment and manage their resources sustainably, particularly water.

Training the community
We recruit, train and support groups of volunteers to partner with our state-certified water quality testing lab and monitor streams and lakes over the long term.

By participating directly in the scientific process of collecting management-quality data, volunteers become knowledgeable stewards of their watersheds.

Want to be a CSI volunteer? Email Becky, CSI’s Outreach Coordinator at becky@communityscience.org

Accessible and Reliable Data
Data produced by our monitoring partnerships with local volunteers fills gaps left by federal, state and academic programs. Monitoring results, available free of charge, help position local governments to manage water resources and distribute costs equitably among stakeholders. Browse CSI’s database of water quality data.

Non-profit Organization
With generous financial support from county and municipal governments in Tompkins County, New York, local foundations and membership donations,  CSI  has partnered with eleven groups of volunteers to collect over 35,000 pieces of certified water quality data on Cayuga Lake and its tributary streams since 2003. You can support CSI by becoming a member today!

Private Drinking Well Testing

CSI’s certified lab performs water quality testing for drinking water and can test your well water for analytes ranging from basic bacteria tests to comprehensive baseline testing. Baseline testing establishes the levels of 20 “signature chemicals” that are most likely to change in the event of contamination from hydraulic fracturing fluids and shale gas waste. See here for a complete list of tests and prices.

CSI’s Water Quality Database.  CSI’s database makes scientifically credible water quality monitoring data available for use by the general public, regulators and policy makers.

 

Open Database

Sampling water sources in the Finger Lakes Region since 2003.

Conducting baseline testing of private drinking water wells in New York.

CSI database makes scientifically credible water quality monitoring data available for use by the general public, regulators and policy makers.

  Certified Water Testing for private wells, regulated suppliers and surface water.

December, 2013

  • 7

    11:AM - 6:PM at First Baptist Church, Ithaca Alternative Gift Fair

  • 20 - 2

    at CSI Lab, 95 Brown Road Ithaca Lab Closed