Since August 1999 rain samples have been collected at a site located in Ft. Covington Center. All participants in the program visit their site every Tuesday at 9:00am to collect the precipitation sample. This sampling is part of a program monitoring the acid rain across the nation. As part of a national program the samples are mailed to a laboratory in Illinois for analysis on pH, conductivity as well as other parameters.

The NADP currently has over 200 sites spanning the continental United States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The purpose of the network is to collect data on the chemistry of precipitation for monitoring of geographical and temporal long-term trends. The precipitation at each station is collected weekly according to strict clean-handling procedures. It is then sent to the Central Analytical Laboratory where it is analyzed for hydrogen (acidity as pH), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, and base cations (such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium).