Author: rec0004

by: eric reutebuch

The SWaMP (Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan) Project and  Alabama Water Watch were extremely pleased to have Marlon Cook, Director, Groundwater Assessment Program, Geological Survey of Alabama, present results from a six-year GSA study, ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENT LOADING RATES AND IMPACTS OF UPPAVED ROADS ON SELECTED TRIBUTARIES TO GANT AND POINT A LAKES, COVINGTON COUNTY ALABAMA 2002-2007. The presentation was at Upchurch Hall on the Auburn University campus on December 16th, 2009.

Seminar Announcement

Mr. Cook touched on erosion/sedimentation processes, and their affects on streams in Alabama. He showed results of the impressive study conducted by the GSA in Covington County, where GSA scientists measured sediment load in several streams before and after installation of BMPs (best management practices) on dirt roads that crossed the local streams.

PowerPoint Presentation

Video: Part 1,  Part 2

The BMPs included chip-seal (surfacing with tar and limestone) of the road surface from hilltop to hilltop on both sides of a bridge, armoring drainage ditches along the sides of the road with limestone rip-rap, installation of curb and gutters, planting of vegetative cover on road sides, and check-dam installation in roadside ditches. Mr. Cook emphasized that a relatively small amount of road improvement on unpaved roads can make a dramatic improvement in stream water quality (manifest as reduction of dirt being washed into the stream during rain events) if the improvements are targeted to areas of high erosion at stream crossings. Results of the GSA study indicated reductions from 46% to 99% in sediment loads in streams, depending on the BMP treatments installed. The seminar closed with a stimulating discussion about things that could be done on Lee County’s 187 miles of unpaved roads to reduce the amount of dirt flushed into our local streams and improve their water quality.

SWaMP is administered and coordinated by Alabama Water Watch and Auburn University Fisheries Department, and partially funded by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management through a Clean Water Act Section 319(h) nonpoint source grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Region 4.

Special thanks to Mr. Marlon Cook for traveling to Auburn University and sharing his knowledge and experiences with us in an effort to restore and preserve Auburn’s natural resources!

by: eric reutebuch

Alabama Water Watch (AWW) has been working with the Cary Woods Elementary School in environmental stewardship efforts for the past two years. Ms. Debbie Brooks, Principal of the Cary Woods School, applied for a grant under the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan, or SWaMP, an ADEM/EPA funded project directed by AWW that promotes environmental efforts to reduce nonpoint source pollution of surface waters. Ms. Brooks has worked closely with Eric Reutebuch and Wendy Seesock, co-coordinators of the SWaMP project. Dr. Bill Deutsch is the project director, and director of the Alabama Water Watch Program, based in Upchurch Hall at Auburn University. With the grant, Cary Woods School was able to implement several environmental projects, including: 1) installation of a rain garden to intercept polluted stormwater runoff from surrounding lawns and parking lots, 2) installation of two large tanks to harvest rainwater from the school’s roof for use in outdoor watering of the lawns, shrubs and school garden plots, 3) renovation of the school’s nature trail, which leads down to a local stream behind the school, where the students conduct water quality and stream bioassessment exercises (with the aid of AWW personnel and a local citizen volunteer monitoring group, Save Our Saugahatchee), and 4) training Cary Woods teachers in the Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams curriculum for use in their science classrooms.

A video was produced by Tiger TV (a mass media program at Auburn High School in which students operate a television station) for the Auburn Community Channel (channel 16) by Jason Miller. Jason, a student at Auburn High School, produced the video under the direction of Elizabeth Antoine,Language Arts Instructor in the Auburn High School English Department.

Click here to view the video (in 4 segments)

For more information on the Cary Woods project, Respect, Replace and Restore- the 3 R’s of Cary Woods Elementary outdoor environment project- Educating all to preserve our environment- a school and community effort!, go to www.swamp.auburn.edu, and for information on the Alabama Water Watch Program, go to www.alabamawaterwatch.org.

by: eric reutebuch

Influence of urban tributaries on freshwater mussel populations in a biologically diverse piedmont (USA) stream

Michael M. Gangloff1 , Lynn Siefferman1, Wendy Seesock2 and E. Cliff Webber2

(1)	Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, 572 Rivers Street, P.O. Box 32027, Boone, NC 28608-2027, USA

(2)	Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, Auburn University, Swingle Hall, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

Abstract

The Southeastern USA is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth of human populations that is likely having profound effects on the region’s unique aquatic biota. Using both survey data and experimental protocols, we assessed the influences of water and habitat quality on freshwater mussel populations in a small Piedmont stream. Chewacla Creek is a high-quality stream located near the rapidly growing towns of Auburn and Opelika in east-central Alabama. From 1999 to 2007 we monitored freshwater mussel populations and measured substrate and water chemistry variables in Chewacla Creek. Surveys revealed that mussel abundance decreased substantially concomitant with degraded habitat and water quality downstream of three highly urbanized tributaries. We conducted sentinel trials using adult mussels (Villosa lienosa) in Chewacla Creek and a tributary (Parkerson Mill Creek) that receives wastewater discharge. Sentinel mussels were placed in cages at three locations downstream of the effluent discharge point and at one upstream site (control). Sentinel mussels exposed to wastewater discharge exhibited lower survival rates compared to control animals. Together, survey and experimental data suggest that degraded tributary sub-catchments may fragment mussel populations in high-quality streams. Moreover, our data indicate that protection of sensitive aquatic taxa necessitates effective management of water quality across large spatial scales.

Read Review of Article

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by: eric reutebuch

Bill Deutsch, Director of the Alabama Water Watch Program (AWW) kicked off the 13th Annual State of the Lake Address at the annual meeting of the Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee (SLEPC) at the Dodge House Restaurant in Dodge City, Alabama. About 50 locals who live in the Smith Lake Watershed attended the meeting. Bill began by reminiscing about the previous dozen trips to Smith, and going over the program agenda which included:

1. AWW Program Update
2.  Agency assessment of Smith Lake
3.  Monitoring activities on Smith Lake
4.  What’s the Plan? Watershed management planning: Rock Creek Watershed,  Ryan Creek Watershed

Click Here to view the PowerPoint – 2009SmithSOLA-lowres

He continued with some interesting stats on Smith Lake – did you know that it is

1. The deepest lake in the state (max depth of 264 feet, average depth of 65 feet)
2. Second in the state in total volume (1,390,000 acre-feet)
3. Has the longest lake residence time in the state (it takes 435 days for water to flow through the lake).

He continued with a brief overview of AWW achievements over the past 17 years, and then showed where Smith Lake falls on a ‘gauge’ of eutrophication (or enrichment/pollution) relative to other major lakes in the state. This ‘gauge’, known as the Trophic State Index (TSI) was measured for all lakes in Alabama back in 1989, and is a valuable reference for comparing the present condition. At that time, Smith Lake was on the clean end of the scale, with a TSI value in the low 40s (or low-mesotrophic range). Bill explained that this equated to a lake with clear, clean water that has low algal productivity and a fairly deep Secchi disk visibility.

Bill then referenced ADEM’s latest water quality report, the 2008 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (also known as the ADEM 305(b) Report to Congress). He showed that in this report, Smith was one of only four lakes in the state in the oligotrophic range (cleanest trophic state ranking) based on data collected in 2007. He then showed a TSI graph from the ADEM report which indicated that the water quality in Smith has been relatively stable over the years, and that the water quality in 2007 was about the same as that monitored in 1985 – clean and in or near the oligotrophic range.

Eric continued the program by qualifying the ADEM water quality trend on Smith Lake, which was based on monitoring by the dam. He emphasized some of the several advantages of citizen monitoring – one being the regular monthly long-term monitoring done at sloughs, embayments and tributary streams that would not be monitored if not for volunteer efforts.

Eric then showed a map of the 43 citizen monitoring groups in the Black Warrior Basin, 15 of which are currently active and submitting water monitoring data to the AWW state-wide water quality database. Eric identified the five active citizen groups currently monitoring in the Smith Lake Watershed, including SLEPC, Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Inc. (WCSLAI), Smith Lake Civic Association (SLCA), Camp McDowell, and Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District (CULCO). A total of 64 volunteers who have been certified in water quality monitoring have submitted water data from the Smith Lake Watershed, which is among the top three waterbodies in the state based on # of monitors! Eric gave special recognition to the new recruits, including two new Citizen Trainers – Larry Barkey of WCSLAI and John Kulbitskas of SLCA, as well as nine new AWW-certified citizen monitors.

A summation of citizen monitoring over the past 13 years totaled 1,642 records (1,484 water chemistry records, 145 bacteriological (E. coli) records, and 13 stream bioassessment records). Seven monitoring sites had greater than 5-year long records, and three sites had greater than 10-year long records. A comparison with ADEM monitoring on Smith Lake indicated that AWW volunteers had six times more data records than ADEM in the past five years (709 records compared to ADEM’s 116 records, calculated as # dates sampled multiplied by # sites sampled per date). The volunteer monitoring was also more extensive – ADEM sampled at a maximum of 11 sites on the lake, while volunteer monitors sampled at 31 sites.

Eric indicated that citizen volunteers do a lot more than monitoring, such as yearly lake clean-ups, environmental education (annual Winston County FAWN program, stream bioassessments with Wallace State students), and participation in teacher trainings in Exploring Alabama’s Living Steams curriculum, taught by AWW at Camp McDowell on Clear Creek.

Eric then presented citizen long-term trend data from four monitor sites in the Smith Lake Watershed. The first site, SLEPC site #1 on Simpson Creek at Deb and Bob Berry’s dock on the east side of the lake, produced a 13-year positive trend in dissolved oxygen (DO), which indicated that water quality has gotten better at that site, a trend that we all like to see! Eric pointed out that the Berrys have not measured poor DO (DO below the ADEM-mandated 5 ppm minimum for maintaining healthy fish populations) since 2000, a very good sign!

Eric followed with data from CULCO site #2 on Crooked Creek measured by Bob Keefe of the Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District. Bob’s data showed repeated occurrences of low DO in Crooked Creek, particularly during the heat of the summer when DO is naturally lower (less soluble) in water. Eric showed that the worst bout of low DO occurred during the summer of 2007 during the peak of the recent drought.

He then showed two Alkalinity-Hardness trend graphs, one from CULCO site #12 on Ryan Creek (tributary on the east side of the lake) and the other from WCSLAI site #18 on the Sipsey Fork in the Sipsey Wilderness Area (tributary on the west side of the lake). Alkalinity on the east side of the lake ran ~ 25-90 milligrams per liter (mg/L), while that of the west side ran ~ 25-35 mg/L, on average about half that of the east side (primarily because of the region’s geology, go to  www.alabamawaterwatch.org/resources/publications.html and click Smith Lake 2005 for details). In general, the lake has relatively low alkalinity which was cited in ADEM’s 2008 Report to Congress as putting Smith Lake at risk for acid effects (from runoff from mining operations). Eric said that the AWW test kit is a valuable tool for collecting baseline water quality data before a mining operation begins, as well as a tool to monitor potential detrimental effects of ongoing mining operations (manifest as low pH, low alkalinity, visual clues, and lack of fish). Eric said that the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ were the tributary streams that flow into Smith Lake, because these would manifest water quality problems much sooner than the lake would.

Eric closed with a ‘water quality snap-shot’ of the whole lake based on citizen data. He presented upper-lake, mid-lake and lower-lake (dam forebay) Secchi disk averages for the past year, which showed a gradual increase in water clarity from upper-lake sites to the dam forebay (ranging from an average of ~ 1.3 meters in the upper lake embayments to 4.0 meters down by the dam).

Mona Scruggs, an AU graduate student in Community Planning working with AWW, continued with a synopsis of recent watershed management planning activities in the Rock Creek Watershed. She said that AWW had secured a grant from ADEM to work with Rock Creek stakeholders in the development of a Rock Creek Watershed management plan, and that once a plan was developed, AWW would pursue a grant to put money on the ground to implement the plan. She explained that the Rock Creek Watershed was targeted because it contains two tributary streams, Rock and Crooked creeks, that are on ADEM’s list of impaired (or polluted; known as the 303(d) list) streams, a prerequisite for getting ADEM grant money for improving a watershed and it’s water quality. Mona encouraged all to get involved in this watershed effort to improve the water quality of Rock Creek, Crooked Creek and Smith Lake.

Bill added that there have been discussions about pursuing a watershed management plan for the Ryan Creek Watershed, since a section of Ryan is also on ADEM’s list of impaired streams. Bill closed by commending all of the volunteers who have worked to preserve and protect Smith Lake through their many efforts. Deb Berry, President of Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee closed with a generous gift of $500 to the Alabama Water Watch Program! We hope to continue this long-standing tradition and return next year and report once again on the growing citizen volunteer efforts that is making a difference in the Smith Lake Watershed.

by: eric reutebuch

About 50 members of the Logan Martin Lake Protection Association (LMLPA) met at the Pell City Civic Center at Cropwell to attend the Logan Martin ‘State of the Lake’ Program on October 13th, 2009.  Bill Deutsch, Alabama Water Watch (AWW) Director, and Eric Reutebuch and Sergio Ruiz-Cordova, AWW staff,  traveled up from Auburn University to speak about lake water quality and the LMLPA’s strong commitment to volunteer monitoring and lake protection.

Read about the meeting in the Pell City paper

View the presentation

by: eric reutebuch

Alabama Water Watch Program staff, Bill Deutsch (Program Director), Eric Reutebuch and Jayme Oates, and Auburn University staff, Mike Kensler (Outreach Programs Administrator) traveled to Lake Martin to present a “State of the Lake” program during the Lake Watch of Lake Martin (LWLM) 17th annual meeting at the Elks Lodge in Alexander City on Oct. 25. About 40 LWLM members attended the meeting. Bill Deutsch began the presentation by reminding all present that the battle over water among Georgia, Florida and Alabama rages on, and has direct implications for the waters of Lake Martin. He then commended the Bronsons, Dick and Mary Ann, for their leadership and dedication to Lake Watch and to the lake over the past two decades. Dick has served as the group’s President since 1991. Lake Watch is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that conducts monthly water quality monitoring at several sites on Lake Martin, along with lake clean ups, environmental education and advocacy.

                        Click here for PowerPoint Presentation

Eric Reutebuch then gave a brief overview of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management’s (ADEM’s) assessment of Lake Martin. He pointed out that in ADEM’s most recent Report to Congress, Martin was identified as the lake with the lowest trophic state index (TSI), thus, the cleanest lake in the state (see www.adem.state.al.us/WaterDivision/WQuality/305b/WQ305bReport.htm). TSI is a gauge that quantifies lake pollution or enrichment on a scale from zero to 100 – the higher the value, the more polluted or enriched a lake is. Lake Martin falls in the ‘oligotrophic’ range of the TSI scale, which is characterized by clear, clean waters exhibiting low biological productivity; the same rating that Martin exhibited 20 years earlier in a 1989 AU study by Dr. David Bayne*.  Eric noted that the recent ADEM assessment was based on 2007 water quality data collected near the dam.

Eric then discussed the ranking of LWLM relative to the other 17 AWW-certified citizen monitoring groups in the Tallapoosa River Basin. Based on water quality data collected and submitted to the AWW statewide database, LWLM ranks first in water chemistry data, and third in total water quality data (including water chemistry and bacteriological data) in the basin. The group currently has seven active water monitoring sites on the lake (see https://fp.auburn.edu/icaae/Groupsmap.aspx?dg=0&png=1&ChartID=0&WID=07 and click the green dot on the Lake Martin). A query of the LWLM water data indicated that seven of their sites have continuous monthly monitoring water quality records for more than a decade! A comparison of citizen data to ADEM data over the past five years indicated that ADEM sampled 123 times (dates sampled x stations sampled per date) while LWLM sampled 349 times, approximately three times more than ADEM. This comparison highlights one of the several advantages of citizen volunteer monitoring by certified monitors – a committed local group tends to monitor much more regularly (usually monthly throughout the year) for a longer period of time, and at more sites than a state agency , in this case ADEM, does.

Eric continued by featuring long-term trend data from two of the LWLM monitoring sites. The first, Larry Locke’s site # 07001010 in Elkahatchee Creek Embayment, has been sampled continuously every month since July of 1996 (161 months). Eric showed that Mr. Locke’s long-term data monitoring indicates a steady decline in dissolved oxygen over the last several years, evident by the descending trend line the data produces. This was a surprise to both Bill and Eric, who assumed that water quality, and therefore, dissolved oxygen concentrations, would steadily improve in Elkahatchee Creek Embayment since the Alexander City wastewater treatment plant outfall was diverted from the Sugar/Elkahatchee Creek Drainage out into the mainstem of Lake Martin several years earlier, in June of 2001. Eric pointed out that the LWLM dataset is the only information available that has documented this unexpected trend, which deserves further investigation.

Eric featured a second long-term trend from LWLM site # 07001003, Lake Martin at Bay Pine Island. This is LWLM’s oldest site, monitored monthly for the past 196 months since June of 1993 by the group’s President, Dick Bronson. He showed that Mr. Bronson’s dissolved oxygen readings have never dropped below the state-mandated minimum value of 5 ppm, the minimum amount required to maintain a healthy fish population. This impressive 16-year trend (along with a suite of additional parameters measured by Mr. Bronson) indicates that this portion of Lake Martin is in good shape.

Eric concluded with brief mention of two lake studies, the Tallapoosa Watershed Project and the ongoing 2009 APCo Lake Martin Water Quality Study, that LWLM has played an integral role in. LWLM not only aided in drafting the two studies, but has also actively participated in the research and outreach components of the studies. These and other Lake Martin studies have yielded a long-term trend graph of the lake’s TSI measurements dating back to 1989 which shows that although the TSI in the upper lake (measured at the Highway 280 bridge) had risen dramatically through the 1990s into the ‘low-eutrophic’ TSI zone, the values have stabilized since then at around 50. Mr. Bronson added that this graph indicates the bipolar nature of current conditions of the lake – the more polluted ‘eutrophic’ upper lake versus the nearly-pristine ‘oligotrophic’ lower lake.  Lastly, Eric then acknowledged LWLM’s role in the success and evolution of the Annual Tallapoosa Watershed Conference, a product of the Tallapoosa Watershed Project that garnered attention from USDA-CSREES (project funder) as one of their National Water Program success stories (see www.usawaterquality.org/themes/npm/success).

Mike Kensler concluded the program with a series of slides showing the rapid development in Alabama based on the decadal increase in housing density from 1940 through density projected for 2030. Mike’s point was that development/urban-suburban expansion is coming, and it is up to the current generation to guide and shape the course of this expansion to determine what Lake Martin, and the rest of the state, will look like in 2030. Jayme Oates added that in the course of several follow-up meetings with a variety of stakeholder groups in the Lake Martin Watershed, that she and Mike have experienced a lot of interest and support for advancing watershed management in the Tallapoosa Basin to protect the quality of Lake Martin’s waters, the theme of the 2009 Tallapoosa Watershed Conference (see http://blog.auburn.edu/twp/?p=81). Mr. Bronson concluded the meeting by reporting that LWLM is pursuing a special designation/recognition from ADEM to aid in protecting the Jewel of the Tallapoosa – Lake Martin.

*Bayne, D. R., W. C. Seesock and L. D. Benefield.  1989.  Water Quality Assessment, Alabama Public Lakes 1989.  Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Montgomery, AL. 178 pp.

by: eric reutebuch

(Article as pdf – for printing)

Residents of Lake Wedowee, in Randolph County, became concerned about the health of their lake more than a decade ago, and many members of the Lake Wedowee Property Owners (LWPOA) became certified water monitors under the Alabama Water Watch Program (AWW). Water monitoring began in 1998, and since then the LWPOA has submitted 1,179 water chemistry records and 359 bacteria records to the AWW statewide online database. LWPOA volunteer monitors currently test water quality at 19 sites on the lake and its two primary tributaries, the Big Tallapoosa and Little Tallapoosa rivers (see map below).

LWPOA water monitoring sites on Lake Wedowee and the Big Tallapoosa and Little Tallapoosa rivers in Randolph County. Green dots are active monitoring sites, and red dots are inactive sites (map taken from the AWW website, www.alabamawaterwatch.org).

Spurred by a growing concern about bacterial contamination of the lake from several possible point and nonpoint sources (including septic systems, waste water treatment facilities, campgrounds, and nonpoint source runoff from poultry and cattle rearing operations), several LWPOA monitors received training and certification in bacteriological monitoring from AWW in March 2006. Charles ‘Sut’ Smith, former LWPOA board member and Coordinator of the Upper Tallapoosa River Basin Clean Water Partnership Committee (UTRBCWPC), and Jack Duncan, LWPOA board member and LWPOA Water Testing Committee Chairman, drafted a bacteriological sampling plan to test for levels of E. coli at 22 sites throughout the Lake Wedowee Watershed (see map below).  The initial phase included bacteria testing on Lake Wedowee proper from the dam forebay back to upper lake boundaries.  The lake water was generally E-coli free and met ADEM’s Water Criteria for Swimming and Other Whole Body Water Contact Sports (Pathogens).

The second phase of E-Coli testing focused on the two rivers and tributary streams feeding Lake Wedowee. This phase was done as a project of the UTCWPC to evaluate non-point source pollution entering the watershed streams. More than 100 samples, in triplicate, were collected and analyzed using the AWW Bacteriological Monitoring protocol throughout the 2006 growing season (April-October).  The following results from obtained from the study:

• the highest E. coli levels (up to 8,250 colonies/100 mL of water) occurred in the Little Tallapoosa River just upstream of the Alabama-Georgia state line,
• high levels of E. coli were also measured in Wedowee Creek (up to 2,786 colonies/100 mL of water) and in the Tallapoosa River (up to 506 colonies/100 mL of water), and
• the sources appeared to be from nonpoint source runoff because high levels of E. coli were detected following rainfall/runoff events.

Map showing sites in the Lake Wedowee Watershed that had harmful levels of E. coli during the 2006 growing season (sites in red had > 600 colonies/100 mL of water, sites in yellow had 200-600 colonies/100 mL, sites in green had < 200 colonies/100mL).

 After completion of this tremendous effort and collection of results showing the bacteriological ‘hotspots’ in the Lake Wedowee Watershed, Sut Smith communicated his findings to ADEM. Missy Middlebrooks, ADEM Senior Environmental Scientist, invited representatives from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD) to a meeting in Wedowee to discuss the citizen findings in November, 2006. At the Upper Tallapoosa River Basin Clean Water Partnership meeting, Sut Smith presented the bacteriological findings of periodic high E. coli concentrations in the Little Tallapoosa to representatives from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD). The extremely high concentrations recorded at the state line inspired the GA EPD to action.

After the meeting, GA EPD, Carroll County, the City of Carrollton and the Rolling Hills RC & D Council initiated action to apply for federal 319(h) funds to address the bacterial contamination problem in the Little Tallapoosa River.  The GA EPD awarded a $900,000 grant in January of this year for a three-year watershed project to clean up the Little Tallapoosa River. The project addresses septic tank repair/replacement/maintenance, strategic installation of on-the-ground agricultural best management practices on impaired stream segments, and follow-up water quality monitoring to verify reductions in fecal coliform concentrations (including E. coli) in the river and its tributaries. Representatives from the Rolling Hills RC & D Council recently returned to Wedowee and gave a presentation on the watershed project, and remarked that one reason for doing this project was the citizen bacterial monitoring conducted by LWPOA, along with coordination with ADEM and the Upper Tallapoosa River Basin Clean Water Partnership.

For details on the LWPOA watershed-level bacteria study and lake water quality monitoring, go online to www.alabamawaterwatch.org (click Monitor Resources, then Publications to see the group’s publication titled Citizen Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring of Alabama’s Reservoirs – Lake Wedowee), to www.globalwaterwatch.org (read about LWPOA in a World Wildlife Fund-sponsored publication titled Community-Based Water Quality Monitoring Data Credibility and Applications), and to www.twp.auburn.edu (click Click here to go to original TWP Project to read about LWPOA side-by-side water monitoring with Auburn University researchers in the TWP Final Report: 2006-2007). Thanks to a good, data-rich nudge from our ever-vigilant AWW water monitors, the waters of Lake Wedowee and the Tallapoosa River are being cleaned up so that we can all safely enjoy them – GREAT JOB LWPOA and UTRBCWP!

by: eric reutebuch

Bill Deutsch, Sergio Ruiz-Cordova and Eric Reutebuch traveled from their Auburn University-AWW offices to interact with the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy (WCSLA) water monitoring group last April 3rd. They met with five WCSLA monitors at Duncan Bridge on the Sipsey Fork of Lewis Smith Lake to recertify them in water chemistry monitoring. AWW citizen monitors must be recertified periodically as part of the AWW quality assurance plan, and to retain access to entering water data into the AWW statewide database.  The monitors have been actively monitoring at several locations on the west side of Smith Lake in Winston and Cullman counties.

 Click here for pictures of recert.

Continue reading “Winston County water monitors get refreshed by AWW”

By: eric reutebuch

Come join us and participate in planning for the future of the Tallapoosa River Basin!

The 5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference, The Tallapoosa River Basin –Moving Toward More Effective Water Policy will be at the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center at the Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City on Wednesday-Thursday, May 13th-14th, 2009. This year’s conference will focus on moving toward sustainable water management policy for the Tallapoosa River Basin.

This year’s organizers and sponsors include the Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Water Watch, the Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, and Central Alabama Community College.

Go to www.twp.auburn.edu and, under TWP Highlights click the 5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference link to go to information on the conference, including the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan (8.2 megabite pdf file), conference announcement, and conference registration (required for lunch headcount), and additional information.

by: eric reutebuch

Master Gardeners get wet looking for bugs with AWW

A crew from the Alabama Water Watch Program at Auburn University traveled to the Dadeville Extension Office in October to participate in Extension’s new Water Smart program for Master Gardeners. Half a dozen Master Gardeners from Lee and Tallapoosa counties participated.

 

The mid-October meeting was the third in the Water Smart advanced training sessions for Master Gardeners – Advanced Concepts in Landscape Design. This third session, organized by Kerry Smith, ACES Outreach Specialist, featured a morning classroom lecture and presentation, “Making the Connection: Our Landscape, Our Stream, Our Watershed” by Eve Brantley, ACES Water Quality Specialist. The presentation covered various activities on the landscape and the types of nonpoint source pollution that they contribute to surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes and bays). Following the presentation, Tommy Futral, Tallapoosa County Extension Agent, demonstrated the use of the Enviroscape to demonstrate nonpoint source pollution to the public.

For more pictures, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27144609@N02/sets/72157609281633396/show

For the afternoon field activities, the AWW crew traveled with the Master Gardeners to a nearby stream that runs behind the Council Middle School in Dadeville. Eric Reutebuch demonstrated the use of the AWW water test kit to measure water chemistry. He measured the stream pH, which was neutral (pH = 7), and the dissolved oxygen (DO), which was more than adequate for supporting a healthy population of aquatic fauna (DO of 7.5 ppm, well above the minimum of 5 ppm mandated by ADEM for supporting a healthy aquatic community). Eric encouraged the group to enroll in the full AWW Water Chemistry and Bacteriological Monitoring workshops to become certified AWW water monitors and start monitoring surface waters in their hometown areas. Jayme Oates followed with a demonstration of the AWW bacteriological monitoring test. Jayme showed how simple it was to collect a water sample and mix it with media in a bottle, then plate the media out and incubate the sample in either a high-tech incubator or a home-made incubator (made from a small cooler, a night-light and a thermometer). Jayme described how the results of such a simple test indicate the presence/absence and quantity of E. coli bacteria as purple-to-blue colonies on the plates after a 30-48 hour incubation. She said that this test is becoming more and more popular with volunteer monitors throughout the state because of more frequent incidents of E. coli contamination in water and food, and human sicknesses that follow.

Sergio Ruiz-Cordova completed the afternoon program with a demonstration of AWW stream biomonitoring. Sergio showed the group how to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects, worms, crayfish, snails, clams) with two different types of nets, a small seine and a kick net. Then the group was ready to get their feet wet and start collecting aquatic bugs from the stream.  They collected for about half an hour and then gathered together to see what kind of aquatic community the small stream was supporting. Sergio identified the aquatic critters and assigned them to one of three AWW biomonitoring groups: Group 1 – sensitive critters intolerant of pollution, Group 2 –critters that tolerate a wide range of water quality conditions, and Group 3 – pollution-tolerant critters. The Master Gardeners had collected a total of 11 different aquatic critters: mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larva (two different types), riffle beetles, a water penny, crayfish, cranefly larva, blackfly larva, midge larva and aquatic worms. After calculating a cumulative biomonitoring score of 24 for the stream, they concluded that based on the aquatic fauna, the stream was in “Excellent” condition.

Sergio concluded the demonstration by saying that AWW stream biomonitoring is a great tool for teaching environmental science in schools. He said that AWW has adapted its citizen volunteer stream biomonitoring workshop into an accredited school curriculum, Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams, that is being taught to students in several schools in Alabama. To learn more about the AWW Program, the Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams curriculum, and other opportunities to get involved in monitoring, stewardship and management of Alabama’s streams, rivers, lakes and bays, visit the AWW website at www.alabamawaterwatch.org.