Volunteer
Most people believe our waters should be protected, but they don’t know where or how to start.
If you love your waters and want to do your part in protecting them, volunteering with Swim Drink Fish is a great option! If you want to help ensure beaches are clean, accessible, and eco-friendly, or you want to help contribute to important water quality data and share invaluable information with your community alongside like-minded peers, we’re here to make it happen.
When you volunteer with Swim Drink Fish, you are actively safeguarding the waters you love and finding opportunities to restore, protect, and promote them.
Current Opportunities
Scroll down to see more specifics for each program!
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Join us in Toronto, Vancouver, Kingston or Edmonton!
Are you looking for an opportunity to learn more about your local waters and support protecting and restoring the water in your community?
Swim Drink Fish’s community water monitoring hubs offer a variety of volunteer opportunities to become involved and dive deeper in discovering and safeguarding your community’s waterways.
From community science and outreach to behind-the scenes projects, our volunteers help to collect and share important information about our waterways and build a community of people who are connected to and invested in the health of our waters. It takes a community to protect our water!
Become a water monitoring hub volunteer at one of our hubs across Canada. Scroll down to learn about the volunteer roles available at each of our hub locations.
Learn more about our water monitoring hubs here.
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Every summer, we need the support of volunteers to help visits Blue Flag sites across Canada and ensure they’re meeting the blue flag standard.
To find out if there’s a site near you that needs your support, you visit the Blue Flag home page here
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We’re always looking for volunteers to help improve Swim Guide! Whether it’s taking photos, reporting pollution or updating site information, we’d love your help! We are recruiting volunteers on a rolling basis to help out virtually with Swim Guide. Sign up below and we’ll be in touch with ways you can help.
Check out Swim Guide here
Volunteer with our Water Monitoring Hubs
Please Note: Our Volunteer opportunities are currently paused for winter. If you’re interested in volunteering in summer 2024, please sign up using the form below and we’ll reach out once we’re recruiting volunteers (around May 2024)
Once you sign up, we’ll send you information about how to get involved with a hub near you! You’ll be invited to attend one of our in-person or virtual information sessions.
Each hub typically offers weekly volunteer shift opportunities throughout the Summer.
To see dates for upcoming opportunities, visit our calendar here.
Water Sampling Volunteer
Current Availability: Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria
Work with us weekly in the field to collect water samples, record environmental observations, and collect baseline water quality information.
Join us weekly in the lab to process and analyze our water samples after they have been collected in the field.
Current Availability: Toronto
Lab Technician Volunteer
Seabin Characterization Volunteer
Join us bi-weekly to characterize the contents of a Seabin and determine what types of debris are entering our waterways!
Current Availability: Toronto, Vancouver
Inspire community members to discover and engage with their local waterways alongside the weekly water sampling team and at special events.
Current Availability: Vancouver
Community Outreach Volunteer
Lend your hand and expertise to one of our behind-the-scenes projects. A variety of knowledge and skills are needed to keep our hub operations going and growing!
Current Availability: Vancouver
Hub Volunteer (General)
Volunteer with the Blue Flag Program
Site Control Visit Volunteer
Sign up for the program using the form below and select Blue Flag as the program you’re interested in volunteering with. We’ll send you the orientation package and a short video that explains the program. If you’re interested in leading a survey at a Blue Flag beach or marina, you can sign up for the online training in July. You will conduct your visit in July or August and submit your report to us. The total volunteer commitment is one day for the site visit, about two hours for training, and about half an hour to review the orientation package.
We’ll teach you everything you need to know to inspect a beach or marina and share your report with Swim Drink Fish. This is a great chance to learn more about sustainable beach and marina practices and to spend a day by the water. A list of the Blue Flag beach and marina locations is available here. If you don’t live near a site but want to learn about the program anyway, you’re welcome to register.
The first step to volunteering with us is filling out the below form. Once you’ve filled out this form, our team will be in touch with details about finding out more and getting started!