Author: srs0013

The City of Ozark and the Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow Rivers Clean Water Partnership joined forces in supporting the Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper. Inc. in bacteriological sampling efforts in the Hurricane Creek Watershed. The creek runs from Ozark, Alabama to its mouth at John Hutto Park in Newton, Alabama.

 

Bacteriological sampling was conducted in September 2010 at 9 sites in the watershed according to the Alabama Water Watch (AWW) bacteriological monitoring protocol. AWW trained and certified volunteer monitors, Lee Bradburn and Amanda Saad, assisted Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper. Inc. in the sampling effort. Lisa Harris, the CPYRCWP facilitator also assisted with the sampling.

 

Sampling results indicated that the main source of fecal bacteria contamination was somewhere upstream of Harry Walker Road and downstream of sampling points further upstream. Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, ADEM and the City of Ozark will continue to work to attempt to identify the source or sources of contamination.

Alabama Water Watch Staff and volunteer instructors recently conducted a Water Chemistry Monitor workshop at the Smith Lake Civic Association Building and Duncan Bridge Marina.

Click here to view the video and read more about it

Alabama Water Watch held their 17th Annual Meeting and Picnic on Saturday, June 19th at Auburn University. The event started with a mini-conference in Comer Hall. Bill Deutsch, AWW Program Director, welcomed guests from around the state, and asked them which of the 10 major basins in Alabama they came from. Folks from seven of the 10 basins were in attendance, from the Tallapoosa, Coosa, Chattahoochee, Tennessee, Coastal Plain Steams, Black Warrior and Cahaba basins. They collectively represented the following 16 groups that monitor from the Tennessee Valley to the Alabama Coast:

• Save Our Saugahatchee
• Friends of Chewacla and Uphapee Watersheds
• Lake Watch of Lake Martin
• Tri-River Region Water Watch
• Lake Mitchell HOBO
• RSVP Marshall County (Lake Guntersville)
• Lake Harding Water Watch
• Friends of Halawakee Creek
• Smith Lake Civic Association
• Alabama River Rats
• Watercress Darter Water Quality Monitoring Program
• Friends of Shades Creek
• Friends of Hodnett Creek
• Coastal Plain Streams Water Watch
• Jake and Donny Water Watch
• Mill Creek Watershed Management Plan 

Mini-conference YouTube video

Picnic and Mini-conference Photo Gallery

Mini-conference Presentations (with voice recording)

Bill continued by describing linkages among individual monitors, the AWW groups, the Alabama Water Watch Program and Alabama Water Watch Association (AWWA), and water watch globally – the Global Water Watch. He concluded by emphasizing that AWW is composed of three parts: the AU-based AWW Program, the 501(c)3 AWW Association (composed of board members from basins throughout the state) and the citizen monitoring groups (currently 58) throughout the state. He said that at the present time, there are strong ties and interactions between the AWW Program and the groups, and between the AWW Program and AWWA, but not a lot of interaction between the groups and AWWA. Bill had met with the AWWA board the previous evening to develop plans to strengthen this connection in the coming months.

Mike Kensler, Outreach Programs Administrator with the AU Water Resources Center, then spoke on the evolution of the environmental movement in the US, and how we got to where we are today. He outlined the ‘Alabama Water Watch story’ and suggested ways that AWW can revitalize its base, become more relevant to Alabamians, and increase organizational effectiveness going forward.

Jayme Oates, Executive Director of the AWWA, followed with a synopsis of AWWA deliberations over the past several months. AWWA has been working on a strategic plan consisting of five major goals:

Goal 1: Increase public awareness through increased data analysis, interpretation and dissemination,

Goal 2: Increase local group effectiveness and impact by providing them with the means to communicate and coordinate their efforts both with each other and with agency staff,

Goal 3: Secure stronger, more stable support of AWW from Auburn University,

Goal 4: Raise funds to meet annual budget goals and carry out annual activities,

Goal 5: Strengthen AWWA’s organizational capacity.

At the close of the mini-conference, all relocated to the AU ponds for a catfish & shrimp feed, followed by the 2010 AWW Awards Ceremony. This year’s awards went to the following individuals (note, awards are based on activity from June 2009-May 2010):

• The Mike Mullen Award – Monitor of the Year for outstanding performance and lasting contribution of an individual submitting the most records in the past year went to Bob Keefe (270 total water monitoring records submitted),
• Manic Stonefly Award for outstanding performance and lasting contribution of a group submitting the most combined records in the past year – Wolf Bay Watershed Watch (571 total water monitoring records submitted),
• The Trainer of the Year award for outstanding performance and lasting contribution of an individual conducting the most training sessions in the past year – Homer Singleton (11 water monitoring workshops),
• The AWW 08-09 MVP award for outstanding and dynamic performance and lasting contribution of an AWW Staff member during the past year – Eric Reutebuch (AWW staffer since 1996).

These individuals, along with all of the volunteer monitors throughout the state have given selflessly of their time and talent in monitoring and protecting the waters of Alabama, and for this we are truly grateful! The waters of Alabama are surely cleaner because of their collective efforts!

 

 

Click the Image for Picnic information and registration

The seeds of watershed planning have been sown over the past several years in the Smith Lake Watershed at the annual ‘State of the Lake Address’ sponsored by Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee, or SLEPC. Alabama Water Watch (AWW) staff annually evaluate volunteer monitor data collected by the five active monitoring groups in the Smith Lake Watershed and look at long-term trends in the data to see if the water quality in sections of the lake is getting better or worse. The five water monitoring groups include SLEPC (on Ryan Creek), Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Inc., or WCSLAI (on Crooked, Rock, Brushy and Sipsey Fork), Camp McDowell (on Clear Creek), Smith Lake Civic Association, or SLCA (on the lower lake), and Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District, or CULCO (on streams throughout Cullman County).

Continue reading “Smith Lake residents embrace watershed management”

Check out the articles on the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Inc. blog:

Click here for article #1

Click here for article #2

A Living Downstream video was first produced over a decade ago in VHS format. Recently, the video was reformatted in digital form and updated to reflect the growth and evolution of the AWW Program over the past 18 years, since its inception in 1992.

View the video

Under the leadership of Dr. Bill Deutsch, AWW Program Director, thousands of Alabamians have been trained and certified in water quality monitoring, from the Tennessee Valley to the Gulf of Mexico. AWW-trained citizen volunteers monitor their local waters, educate communities on how to better utilize and preserve water resources, and actively take part in shaping water-management policy throughout Alabama.

A team of young scientists at Isabella High School in Maplesville, AL, has been monitoring Mulberry Creek. The Isabella Water Watchers, as they call themselves, are collecting water data for use in the real world of science. On Friday, December 18th, the students will present their project at the state science fair in Birmingham as part of the Alabama Department of Education’s Girls Engaged in Math & Science (GEMS) program.

Click here to read the complete story in the Clanton Advertiser

 

The new issue of the Volunteer Monitor newsletter features an article titled Monitoring Lessons from International Projects by Bill Deutsch, AWW and Global Water Watch Program Director.

  Click here for article

The AWW Office at Upchurch Hall on AU campus will have copies to distribute. If you would like one, please let us know and we’ll mail it to you, or you can stop by to pick one up. We’ll also have this issue and other pertinent issues available at our workshops and other meetings.

To view and download this and other volumes of the Volunteer Monitor, go to the Volunteer Monitor website -> CLICK HERE.

Bill Deutsch and Sergio Ruiz-Cordova traveled to Arley, Alabama to train a group of Alabama Water Watch-certified volunteer monitors to become AWW trainers Saturday, September 12th. The AWW Training of Trainers Workshop was held at the Meek High School in Arley. The AWW Program has been training citizens throughout the state to test the water quality of their local streams, rivers, lakes, bays and bayous since 1993. Bill quickly realized that the exponential growth in volunteer monitors could not be sustained with just a couple of AWW trainers, and developed the Training of Trainer Workshop in 1995. Currently, the AWW Program has about 40 trainers statewide, and AWW-certified volunteer trainers conducted about 2/3rds of trainings within the past year. Since 1993, over 5,000 Alabamian have been certified as AWW water monitors.

Trainees, Larry Barkey (on left) and James Mason (in back) receive training materials from Bill Deutsch

The ranks of AWW trainers gained four new recruits at the Arley training, and two veteran trainers went through the Trainer Refresher Workshop. The workshop participants came from the Black Warrior, Coosa and Tennessee River basins, and represented five AWW monitor groups (listed below). New trainees included: 

• John Kulbitkas representing Smith Lake Civic Association

• Larry Barkey representing Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy

• James Mason representing Huntsville Senior Environment Corps

• Loretta Weninegar representing Columbia High School, Huntsville, AL

Trainers that got refreshed included:

• Ray O’Donnell representing RSVP/Marshall County

• Isabella Trussell representing Logan Martin Lake Protection Association

Bill opened the workshop with an overview of AWW Program trends. He then reviewed the Executive Summary of the 2008 AWW Annual Report, and lead a discussion “Thinking about AWW in the Big Picture”, touching on comparative advantages of AWW monitoring, maintaining quality citizen water data, interpretation of the citizen data, better use of the data, and AWW success stories and local initiatives.

Other topics of discussion included volunteer monitor group dynamics, levels of AWW certification, role of the Alabama Water Watch Association, what is involved in becoming a trainer, planning an AWW workshop, preparing for a workshop, conducting a workshop, and following up after a workshop.

Special thanks to Ms. Susette Rohde, the Meek High School science teacher who assisted with  training logistics and provided delicious home-made treats for the participants! To locate an AWW trainer near you and request a training workshop, go to the AWW website at www.alabamawaterwatch.org and click on the Monitor Resources menu, or call the AWW toll-free number at (888) 844-4785. And the next time that you’re out cruising on a beautiful lake, paddling down a picturesque stream, or fishing in a productive bayou, remember to shout out a big “Thank You!” to the selfless volunteer trainers – like John, Larry, James Loretta, Ray and Isabella, and the volunteer monitors who give hundreds of hours of their time to watch over and protect the rich aquatic resources of our State.