Tis the season for giving thanks, and the AWW Program Staff would like to thank all of our volunteer monitors, trainers, board members and partners for their lasting dedication to Alabama Water Watch.
Celebrating AWW Director Eric Reutebuch’s Successful Career
AWW Staff and other Auburn University colleagues held a reception to celebrate recently retired AWW Director, Eric Reutebuch, his significant career achievements and his 28 years of service with Auburn University.
AWW Founder and former Director Dr. Bill Deutsch perfectly summed up everyone’s reflections on Eric when he said, “We call Water Watch a community-based, science-based program. Eric’s contributions to Water Watch are many, and he clearly brought both the community and the science aspects to his work on a daily basis.”
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Upcoming Training of Trainers and Trainer Refresher Workshops
Interested in becoming an AWW Volunteer Citizen Trainer?
AWW Citizen Trainers conduct about 75-80% of the workshops and recertification sessions held for hundreds of Alabamians annually. The AWW Program depends upon Trainers to meet the demand for workshops, and experienced monitors are encouraged to consider becoming Trainers.
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AWW Featured in College of Ag Alumni Magazine, “The Season”
AWW was featured in an article in the Auburn University College of Agriculture’s alumni magazine, The Season and on the Auburn University website homepage! The article covers highlights of AWW’s 25 years and includes interviews from Dr. Bill Deutsch, Eric Reutebuch, and Mona Dominguez. Read the article by clicking on the link below:
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Workshop Updates: University of Montevallo Environmental Club
We had a great turnout this Saturday at the University of Montevallo’s Water Chemistry Workshop. We had nearly 30 students and we only expected 20! WOW!
AWW Citizen Trainer Flo Peters was assisted by recent UM graduate, Ryan Ahrendt in teaching Water Chemistry Monitoring principles and practices – both did an AWWsome job! Catch some of the action in the photos below:
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Meet Our New Volunteer Coordinator, Sydney Smith!
Sydney Smith officially began her role as AWW Volunteer Monitor Coordinator in July 2017. Her primary role is to provide support to our volunteer monitors and trainers. She accomplishes this by conducting and coordinating training workshops, processing water data, setting up new sampling sites, developing training materials, and maintaining regular communication with our volunteers. Sydney has been a wonderful addition to the AWW Program Staff as she is hard working, intelligent, and creative. On top of that she has a great attitude about her work with AWW and is lots of fun!
We realize many of you have already communicated with Sydney, but we wanted to give her an official welcome and tell you a little more about her with a little Q & A.
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There’s an App for That!
The Official Alabama Water Watch App is here! Our app is FREE and available for download on Google Play and the Apple Store. The AWW App was made possible through the Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
New Online Data Entry!
On AWW data and water monitoring data entry …
The AWW database is closing in on 90,000 water monitoring data records and with all of that data comes a need for efficient data management! Since 2002, the majority of water data has been submitted electronically by certified AWW monitors. Even with all of our years of experience managing the AWW database and web tools, AWW has to learn and adapt every day in order to keep up with constantly changing technology. In addition, we have to balance the changing needs of our volunteers and waterbodies.
With this in mind, we would like to introduce you to our newest online data entry system that was developed in an effort to provide monitors with an improved data entry and review process. Our tests of the new system have received positive feedback.
Whitney Henson, AWW Trainer & Monitor Extraordinaire!
Whitney Henson first started monitoring with AWW in 2014 and became a dedicated citizen volunteer trainer just a year later. She has since graduated from Jacksonville State University with a Bachelors in Geography in 2015 and Masters in Emergency Management in 2017, helped establish the AWWsome monitoring group Jacksonville River Monitors and now works at NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction as an Associate Scientist.
Let’s get to know Whitney better:
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Fish Kills and Contaminated Fish Consumption
Below are a couple of updates relative to 1) reporting fish kills, and 2) advising on consumption of contaminated fish.
- Reporting Fish Kills:
Please help the good folks in the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division of DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) in documenting and diagnosing fish kills in Alabama Waters by calling them ASAP when you witness a fish kill at:
Operation Game Watch line at 1-800-272-GAME(4263) (http://www.outdooralabama.com/reporting-freshwater-fish-kills)
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