Summer Water Quality Intern

Internship Overview:

MountainTrue's Southwestern Office is located in Murphy, NC, and covers six counties in southwestern North Carolina and two counties in north Georgia. This paid internship is within the Clean Water program and is part-time for a total of 150 hours. The intern must live (or at least have summer housing) within 50 miles of Murphy, NC, as the majority of the work will be within that radius. However, the work schedule within the week is somewhat flexible.

Position Description: 

The intern's primary responsibilities will be to assist with collection and analysis of weekly E.coli samples for our Swim Guide monitoring program and to manage the microplastics sampling program in the Hiwassee River basin. This work involves traveling around a 4-county area, collecting water quality samples, interacting with volunteers, and conducting lab analyses. 

Another major focus of the internship is to assist with distribution of supplies and recertification workshops for the long-established volunteer water quality monitoring program in the Hiwassee River watershed (Cherokee & Clay counties in NC and Towns & Union counties in GA). And helping plan a summertime social event for all water program volunteers.

Other responsibilities may include sampling natural drinking water sources and helping with educational events related to water quality in rivers, lakes and streams.  

Eligibility:

• Must have completed your junior year of high school (at minimum).
• Must have independent, reliable transportation, a valid driver's license and be willing/able to travel alone within a 50-mile radius of Murphy
• Must be committed to completing the whole internship (12-week minimum)

Desired skills:

• Organized, with a high level of attention to detail
• Comfortable working both inside and outside
• Experience working with volunteers, or as a volunteer
• Ideally some background in water quality monitoring and/or science lab skills, but not required

Application deadline: March 27, 2026

Start date:  May 18, 2026

End date:  Early August 2025

Work schedule: Internship is approximately 12.5 hours/week for 12 weeks. Tuesday-Thursday are the preferred days of the work week, but the intern will often be working independently and some work can be done remotely.

Location: The intern must live within a 50-mile radius of Murphy, NC during the internship period. 

Compensation: The WRO intern will receive a taxable stipend of $1,500 and mileage will be reimbursed at $0.725 per mile.

Including a resume is optional. Apply through this form.