The Official Blog of Alabama Water Watch
On Saturday October 20th, two Auburn-area AWW water monitor groups worked together to spread the word on water monitoring and watershed stewardship. Friends of Chewacla Creek and the Uphapee Watershed (CHEWUP) joined forces with Save Our Saugahatchee (SOS) to educate hundreds of passers-by at the Loachapoka Syrup Sop in Loachapoka, Alabama.
Alabama Water Watch believes that citizen monitoring can make Alabama’s waters safer and has recently drafted a position paper titled ‘A Science-Based, Community-Based Approach to Monitoring and Controlling Pathogens in Alabama Waters.’ The position paper outlines how credible data being collected by certified AWW monitors can be part of a cost-effective solution in addressing the threat of pathogen contamination to the public’s health.
Logan Martin Lake Protection Association (LMLPA) started water monitoring on the lake in 1996 to fulfill their mission of ‘GUARDING LOGAN MARTIN LAKE WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY’ (see www.lmlpa.org for more information). Over the past 16 years, LMLPA has coordinated the monitoring activities of 131 volunteers who have been trained and certified as Alabama Water Watch monitors. They have contributed over 2, 000 water chemistry records and 540 bacteriological records to the AWW statewide online database (accessible at www.alabamawaterwatch.org). Three have monitored faithfully for more than 15 YEARS (see graph below)!
In March 2012, AWW responded to a request for public input relative to ADEM’s 2012 draft 303(d) list of impaired streams. AWW examined volunteer monitor water data collected in recent years, and requested that ADEM consider this wealth of information as it evaluated the condition of the state’s streams, rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
ADEM held their Triennial Review of Alabama’s Water Quality Standards on July 19th, 2012. This review, conducted every three years, is a public hearing that gives the public an opportunity to become involved in the state’s water quality evaluation and review process through submission of data and comments.
AWW’s goal is not only to educate Alabama’s citizenry in water quality testing, but to empower people to use their water data and knowledge of water issues to become actively involved in the management of their local water resources.
In keeping with this data-to-action strategy, AWW water data from the past five years were queried and analyzed relative to ADEM water quality standards. Two queries were run, one to evaluate AWW sites based on dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and the other based on pathogen (E. coli bacteria) concentration. During this period, 13,437 water chemistry (six parameters, including DO) and 4,910 bacteria records were submitted to the AWW online database.
Results of the queries of these 18,000+ data records indicated that 20 streams were impaired from low DO (less than 5 ppm) and 9 waterbodies were impaired from excessive E. coli levels, based on defined criteria.
Click here for additional information included in the comments submitted to ADEM’s Triennial Review.
Pat and Tom Lynch moved to their home on Lake Martin seven years ago, drawn by its beauty and high water quality. They quickly gravitated to Lake Watch of Lake Martin, the volunteer monitor group that has been watching over the lake for the past two decades. They got trained and certified by Alabama Water Watch (AWW) in water quality monitoring, and adopted a site at the Elk’s Lodge, where they’ve been faithfully monitoring for four years.
Wishing to share their love of the lake and spirit of stewardship with others, they became involved in youth education through interactions with local schools. They teamed up with Dick and Mary Ann Bronson, who developed a whole program of environmental education activities for the gifted class at Radney School. The program linked certified and experienced Lake Watch water monitors and Auburn University scientists to the class curriculum, introducing students to in-class and beyond-the-classroom experiences to inspire them about the sciences.
The Lynches spread their stewardship experiences beyond the state borders by inspiring Jessica Blanchard, their granddaughter in St Cloud, Florida to think about water for her 7th grade project for the school science fair. They shared their Radney School experiences with her, and introduced her to Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams, an AMSTI-accredited environmental curriculum developed by AWW. She latched on to Water
Usage and Conservation and ran with it!
Continue reading “AWW Water Watchers inspire water conservation beyond Alabama”
Save Our Saugahatchee (S.O.S.) celebrated the 15th anniversary of its founding at its April 19, 2012 bi-monthly meeting. S.O.S was incorporated as a non-profit in April 1997 with the mission of improving the quality of Saugahatchee Creek and educating the public about the value of the creek. The initial board of directors who incorporated S.O.S. in 1997 were Alex Bailey, Eric Reutebuch, Tom Ivers, Ron Estridge, Claude Conn, Ken Olson, and Johnny Crance. Tom Ivers served as the first President of the new group.
And, can YOU make a difference in protecting and preserving the world, or at least a piece of it? I recently got a lesson in what individuals can do to make our world a better place.
Congratulations to the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Group for receiving the Rise to the Future, National Hydrology, and Soil Science Award from the U.S. Forestry Service. WCSLAI was “recognized for their partnership with the National Forests in Alabama to sponsor lake shore clean up events as part of Alabama Power Company’s “Renew Our Rivers” campaign. Over the past six years, the partnership has engaged to the local community and convened hundreds of volunteers to remove approximately 180 tons of litter (appliances, Styrofoam, tires, boating and fishing accessories). Over 166 tributary river miles on Smith Lake have also been targeted. Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Group is accredited for raising environmental awareness and engaging a broad coalition of community businesses and groups and the entire staff of the Bankhead National Forest in this effort. Click here to see all 2011 Rise to the Future winners.
Radney Elementary School’s gifted student program was honored on Friday, March 1, 2012 when the Best Environmental Education Program (BEEP) Award was presented to Radney teacher, Laurie Barrett.
Continue reading “Radney Elementary wins BEEP statewide environmental ed award”