The Official Blog of Alabama Water Watch
The Tennessee River begins at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad Rivers near Knoxville, Tennessee. It then bends south out of the Appalachian Mountains, cuts across the northern quarter of Alabama and turns north to join the Ohio River in Kentucky.
The mainstem of the Tennessee is over 650 miles long and 17% of the river is in Alabama. The Tennessee Basin encompasses 40,900 square miles.
By: James and Peggy Lowery of Birmingham, Alabama
When the need to “shelter in” at home became apparent at the beginning of March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, we decided that we needed something that would “get us out of the house” on a regular basis to help us “keep our sanity” while at the same time staying away from other people.
Continue reading “How We Kept Sane During COVID-19 Sheltering In”
In 2021, AWW’s partnership with the USDA Forest Service (USFS) CitSci Fund expanded to the Talladega National Forest! The partnership began in 2019 and, in early 2020, AWW and USFS co-hosted water quality monitoring workshops in the Bankhead, Conecuh, and Tuskegee National Forests. These three workshops resulted in 77 volunteers trained as citizen scientists, 15 active volunteer monitors, and 19 sites sampled on 10 different waterbodies. Nearly 18 months later, 250+ data records have been received. More detail about sites and workshops is published on the Project’s StoryMap.
Continue reading “USFS Phase II Kick-off”
The Escatawpa River is a 129-mile long river in southwest Alabama and southeast Mississippi that originates in the town of Millry, AL. It is a tributary of the Pascagoula River that ultimately drains into the Gulf of Mexico at Pascagoula Bay. The Escatawpa flows through two counties in Alabama: Washington and Mobile. Escatawpa means “where cane is cut” in the Choctaw language. Cane refers to the Southeast’s native bamboo, Arundinaria spp. also known as rivercane.
The Perdido River is a 65-mile long river in southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. The Perdido forms the western boundary between Alabama and Florida for almost its entire length, ultimately draining into the Perdido Bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Its headwaters begin in Escambia County, AL northwest of the town of Atmore, flows into Baldwin County, AL, and shares the state line with Escambia County, FL. Perdido means “lost” in Spanish and was named by Spanish settlers who occupied the area until 1813.
Continue reading “All About the Escatawpa and Perdido River Basins”
Alabama Water Watch works to protect Alabama’s precious water resources by training citizens to collect credible water quality data from rivers, lakes, and other local waterbodies. Educating people about Alabama’s waters and helping them to find a meaningful connection to their watershed is an important part of what we do.
Lucky for us, Alabama has so much to offer in the way of water resources, it is easy to foster these connections. With 132,000 miles of streams and rivers, Alabama can call itself “the River State”. Moreover, each river has a unique set of flora and fauna, geology, culture and history that can provide you with a lifetime’s worth of learning.
How much do you know about your own river basin? Check out AWW’s Twelve Months of Alabama Rivers campaign to test your knowledge and learn more. During each month of 2021, we will be publishing blog articles and social media posts that highlight the unique and interesting characteristics of each of the state’s major river basins.
Continue reading “Twelve Months of Alabama Rivers”The Conecuh River is a 230-mile long river in the Coastal Plain that covers nine Alabama counties. Its headwaters begin in Bullock County near the town of Union Springs. Once the river crosses the state line into Florida, it is called the Escambia River where it ultimately drains into the Escambia Bay near Pensacola.
The Conecuh is the largest of the Coastal Plain rivers in Alabama.
The Chattahoochee River is the 11th largest river in the U.S.
It begins as a small spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Helen, Georgia and flows south for 434 miles through Georgia and Alabama until it joins the Flint River at Lake Seminole to form the Apalachicola River which ultimately drains into the Apalachicola Bay in Florida.
This article will provide an overview of all of the variables tested by certified Alabama Water Watch volunteer monitors, what the data mean. To know whether or not the data indicate water quality issues, it is necessary to have some understanding of Water Quality Standards, so we’ve briefly explained Water Quality Standards for Alabama. The information included could be helpful for interested volunteers who are trying to get started as monitors, people who want to learn more about water quality in their watershed, or certified volunteers who are reviewing the data at their sites.
Continue reading “Overview of Variables Tested by Alabama Water Watch Volunteers”