Carl Woida has been a volunteer monitor with Alabama Water Watch for 19 years. When asked to share about his monitoring experience, he wrote a very thoughtful reflection about his time as a volunteer. We are excited to share his story. Read on to learn more about Carl, his monitoring, lessons learned, and why he enjoys being involved with the AWW Program!
My name is Carl Woida and I have been a Volunteer Monitor with AWW since 2001. I have two monitoring sites on the Paint Rock River, a major tributary of the Tennessee River. My monitoring group’s name is the Scott Branch Water Watch. Scott Branch is a small stream feeding the Paint Rock River. I am 75 years old and to date, since my initial certification in 2001, I have been recertified 10 times and have submitted 276 chemistry reports to AWW.
My wife and I have lived in Huntsville since 1984 and in the late 90’s we looked for a place to occasionally spend a weekend near water. We found a lovely small cabin on the Paint Rock River near New Hope and over the years, have spent quite a bit of time picnicking, fishing, shooting, and swimming there. I became concerned about the quality of the water in this river when neighbors warned us not to drink any well water since all wells in the area were contaminated with E.coli from over a hundred years of poultry, pig, sheep, diary and cattle farm runoff. My hope is that my data may help in detection of some of the point source pollution along this river.
The 59-mile-long Paint Rock River drains over 400 square miles in North Alabama and supports an extremely diverse array of aquatic life, including some 100 species of fish and about 45 different mussel species. More than 12 globally rare mussels are found in the Paint Rock and its tributaries (You can view some of the mussel species found in the Paint Rock River here on the Encyclopedia of Alabama) One of the mussel species is found nowhere else in the world and one fish species is confined to the Paint Rock River and one stream in Kentucky.
I have driven the entire length of the river by 4-wheel-drive vehicles, motorboat, and canoe to where it is formed in northeastern Jackson County, near the Tennessee State border, by the confluence of the Estill Fork and Hurricane Creek. I have also explored many miles of those two tributaries.
Approximate locations of Carl’s monitoring sites along the Paint Rock River.
So one of the sites I selected is on a floating dock right in front of my cabin – easy access and connected to my own property. The other site is about 2 miles upstream under a bridge on a US highway (US-431). There are several feeder streams and farms bordering both sides of the river between the two sites.
One problem at the two sites is that several times from December through April, both sites may be under 6 to 12 feet of flood water. In fact, this year I was unable to access either site during most of December through April due to an extraordinary amount of rainfall in North Alabama. During the recession of these floodwaters, I have seen cow and small animal carcasses, huge logs, and pieces of docks and buildings floating by.
Occasionally, someone will see me monitoring and will ask me, “What are you doing?” Of course, I explain all about AWW and its volunteers, I also hand them a copy of the 16-page booklet, Citizen Guide to Alabama Rivers, Volume 4, which is all about the Tennessee River Basin, its environment, land, plants, and animals; and most importantly, all about AWW. Everyone I saw again later expressed an appreciation for the informative booklet.
One incident, however, that always comes to mind, was the day the Alabama State Highway Patrol pulled up under the bridge where I was monitoring water and demanded to know what was going on. Someone passing by on the bridge had seen me shaking bottles and vials and holding them up to the sky, and had called the police to report a possible [drug] lab in production. The cap and I, both, had a good laugh over that one.
I have a great deal of admiration for AWW, its leaders, trainers, examiners, volunteers, and yes, Auburn and its data analysis program and people, as well. I have learned so much, and have come to appreciate the world’s freshwater systems. I strive to educate people about them and protect this, our most precious resource. I hope to be able to provide many more years of volunteer monitoring.
Thank you, Carl, for your many years of dedicated monitoring and watching over the Paint Rock River. We are thankful to have you as part of the AWW Team! Keep up the great work, and happy monitoring!