ECO has coordinated the Henderson County stream testing for the Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN) project since 1992. The monthly VWIN project continued in 2006 (its 14th year), coordinated by Jim and Sharon Spicer, with Henderson County funding 18 sites out of a total of 33 this year. Volunteers collect monthly water samples from 33 sites on 26 streams in the county. Chemical analysis is performed by the Environmental Quality Institute at UNCA.

VWIN is a regional stream-monitoring program that supplies a comprehensive water quality database which is valuable to elected officials, planners, environmentalists, and state and federal regulators. Jim and Sharon Spicer do a great job as volunteer coordinators for ECO's program. Henderson County, Printpack, Inc., Dornick Foundation, Town of Lake Lure, and private donors fund this program, with support from Mr. Pete's Convenience Stores and Van Wingerden International.

The VWIN program is a water quality monitoring program initiated in 1990 with 27 sites in Buncombe County . Water samples are collected by trained volunteers, and samples are analyzed by a state certified laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Asheville 's Environmental Quality Institute. Since 1990, the program has expanded to include 137 sites in the French Broad River basin , 12 of which are on the French Broad River proper. In Transylvania , Henderson , Buncombe and Madison counties, all major tributaries and many minor tributaries are monitored, with most major tributaries having multiple monitoring sites. In Haywood County , there are two sites on the Pigeon River , with 16 sites on tributaries. VWIN has collected at least three years of monthly data for most sites and over six years of monthly data for many sites. Parameters monitored include major nutrients, turbidity, suspended solids, pH, alkalinity, conductivity and heavy metals such as zinc, copper and lead. Each county having monitoring stations has a coordinator to organize and train volunteers and ensure that all stations are monitored monthly.