AWWareness

By: Amy Zvonar

If you are a Volunteer Monitor, you may have recently received an email from AWW summarizing your data monitoring efforts from June 01, 2025 until August 31, 2025. If you monitored during this period and submitted your data, you received a “Thank You for Submitting Data” email. If you are a certified monitor but did not monitor during this period, you may have received a “We Miss You” email!  Both emails are part of a new initiative by our staff to provide all certified AWW monitors with up-to-date information about their monitoring efforts! 

With anything new, there is always a lot to learn. If you received an email, we hope you learned that we care about the data you submit. Committing to regular monitoring and submitting your data monthly requires time and effort and we greatly value your dedication.   We hope you also learned that we value you. If you have not been able to submit data for any reason, these quarterly emails are one tool our small staff is using to reach out and offer our assistance.

Continue reading “For Volunteer Monitors: What are these new “Data Snapshot” Emails?”

By: Amy Zvonar

AWW volunteer monitors and trainers are the backbone of our organization. Their dedication to supporting AWW’s mission is apparent every time they submit data or organize and lead a certification training. It is because of their hard work that we have active monitors in 41 of the 67 counties in Alabama!

As a bonus, all our volunteer monitors and trainers are fascinating individuals who are doing incredible things for their communities all over Alabama. We recently had the pleasure of learning more about volunteer monitor and trainer, Molly Miller, who is an Assistant Professor with the Stokes School of Marine & Environmental Sciences at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.  She monitors sites in the Mobile area with the University of South Alabama and gets her college students involved in the monitoring process.

Read on to find out more about what brought Molly to AWW and why she thinks water quality monitoring is important. Plus, you won’t want to miss finding out what her favorite aquatic organisms are!   

Continue reading “Volunteer Highlight: Molly Miller”

Watershed stewardship is not all in the “big” wins and success stories. Stewardship can be practiced daily through appreciation and the simple act of noticing and sharing what is around you. 

Celebrating Water is an effort to encourage us to share the wonders that water brings to us through photos, poems, art, writing, or however you like to share the waters you cherish. If you have a Celebrating Water moment to share, email us at awwprog@auburn.edu!

AWW Staff had the opportunity to enjoy some beach time while helping facilitate the Alabama Water Resources Conference in Orange Beach, AL.

Enjoy photos of Orange Beach from AWW Staff!

Continue reading “Celebrating Orange Beach with AWW Staff”

By: Amy Zvonar

What do our volunteers do with all that data they collect? Our new Data Lightning Rounds get the conversation flowing around “data-to-action.” This year, we heard from groups and individuals monitoring throughout our coastal region.

Continue reading “#AWWatWork: Recap of Volunteer Data Lightning Rounds”

Alabama Water Watch was excited to participate in the Family STEM Career Connect Day at the Opelika Public Library, hosted by Quanthub and the East Alabama STEM Ecosystem! The fair brought together STEM-focused organizations from Auburn University and across Alabama, offering families a chance to discover exciting careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Continue reading “AWW @ Family STEM Career Connect Day”

Watershed stewardship is not all in the “big” wins and success stories. Stewardship can be practiced daily through appreciation and the simple act of noticing and sharing what is around you. 

Celebrating Water is an effort to encourage us to share the wonders that water brings to us through photos, poems, art, writing, or however you like to share the waters you cherish. If you have a Celebrating Water moment to share, email us at awwprog@auburn.edu!

Enjoy our first Celebrating Water feature by AWW Staffer Amy Zvonar.

Continue reading “Celebrating Pepperell Branch Creek with Amy Zvonar”

By Emily Brown and Amy Zvonar

Earlier this summer, you met AWW’s 2025 Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) intern, Emily Brown (read Meet Emily Brown here). Emily accomplished numerous projects for Alabama Water Watch this summer, from gathering workshop supplies to helping design educational materials. She also captured many of the beautiful photos we shared on social media and through our blogs! We are extremely grateful for Emily’s dedication to our mission and her willingness to support our outreach programs.

Read on to find out what Emily had to say about her internship experience with Alabama Water Watch and the impact it had on her educational and career path:

Continue reading “Recap: Emily’s Experience as an ACES Summer Intern”

Project FARM (Fostering Agricultural Research and Mentoring) Professional Development: June 10-11 and July 15-16, 2025

By Amy Zvonar

When students return to their classrooms this fall, in addition to the typical new pencils, paper, and three-ring binders in their classrooms they will also find nets, buckets, and water chemistry test kits. These shiny new school supplies are currently being housed in classrooms in Elmore, Pike and Lee counties. 11 teachers are prepared to facilitate their use by hundreds of 7^th and 8^th grade science students during the 2025-2026 school year.

Continue reading “RECAP: Project FARM Educator Professional Development”