In terms of product quality and respect for the environment, care for water resources involving agricultural activities is presented as an opportunity for the implementation of production systems suited to small farms, whether family-based producers or traditional communities as the quilombolas. The objective of this project was to monitor the quality of water from the involvement of local players assembling a critical mass capable of preserving and/or restoring water resources and participating in decision making processes for the benefit of the local community. In short, the goal was establishing Demonstration Units to transfer rational water use technologies to the communities of family-based dairy farmers and quilombolas. Youngsters were selected in nine municipalities (Lima Duarte, Santana do Garambéu, Santa Rita de Ibitipoca, Pedro Teixeira, Olaria, Ibertioga, Carvalhos, Bocaina de Minas and Alagoa) in the State of Minas Gerais, which have milk production on small farms as the main activity generating employment and income in addition to the Colônia do Paiol quilombola, in the municipality of Bias Fortes, Minas Gerais State. The communities nominated their representatives to participate in the training activities. The subsequent activities of the project were carried out through the participation of the member selected by their community and through lectures and demonstration units held in the locality, so with the participation of the entire interested persons. In this way, other inhabitants of the communities were able to participate. The selected youths were trained as environmental monitoring agents for water quality by Embrapa Dairy Cattle, with training on general topics on the water in nature, water in the farm, and on handling georeferencing instruments (GPS) and portable equipment for measuring water quality (Ecokits®). These youngsters have returned to their communities and started to work analyzing water lotic courses (rivers and streams) for the following parameters: pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, ammonia, iron, chloride, hardness, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (DBO), temperature, total coliforms and fecal coliforms. The articulation among the project activities was based on the availability of alternatives to the use and conservation of water resources possible to be adopted by family-based farmers and quilombolas. Finally, the data were superimposed on factors related to the physical environment, creating a geographical panorama that was released on the Internet.