AWWareness

Who could have imagined back in the early days of AWW how far-reaching the program’s impacts would be 25 years later. Read about some of AWW’s impressive achievements in Eric’s recent AWWareness Article:  AWW Celebrates 25 Years of Watching the Water.

Over the weekend of May 20^th, volunteers, supporters, and friends of AWW joined together at the Living River Retreat on the Cahaba near Montevallo to celebrate the achievements and importance of AWW over the last 25 years. Here are a few highlights from the celebration.

The day began with a welcome that included recognition of the AWW Association board members, volunteer trainers, and monitors by AWW Director, Eric Reutebuch. Each of the twelve trainers present received a poster of the America’s Amazon Infographic in recognition of his or her valuable contributions to AWW.

Continue reading “AWW 25th Anniversary Celebration Highlights”

On May 19^th, to kick off a fun-filled weekend of celebrating 25 years of “Loving Our Downstream Neighbor”, several AWW monitors and staff floated a short stretch of the Cahaba River on the Living River Retreat property. Along the way we found snakes, turtles, and mussels, laughs were shared, and near the end, the group had the pleasure of seeing a small stand of the famous Cahaba Lilies.

Continue reading “Canoeing and Celebrating on the Cahaba”

by: eric reutebuch

Back in 1992, Bill Deutsch was fresh out of graduate school at AU, and ready to go out and change the world – for the better, of course. Little did he know that 25 years later, AWW would have trained 7,400 citizen monitors who have monitored 2,400 sites on the streams, rivers, lakes, bays and bayous throughout the state, and submitted over 86,000 water quality records to the AWW online database!

More important, that these volunteer monitors would have accomplished a litany of achievements in improving water quality and water policy through the use of their data and acquired knowledge in a myriad of watershed stewardship endeavors. The list includes positive impacts ranging from cyphering out fecal contamination in local neighborhood streams to impacting state water policy! Here are some examples: Continue reading “AWW celebrates 25 years of watching the water”

Flo Peters and her husband Bill have monitored lots of water and influenced many, many others to do the same! Both have been recognized over the past several years for their outstanding efforts in watershed stewardship and environmental education.

 

Continue reading “Flo Peters, AWW trainer and monitor extraordinaire!”

By: Eric Reutebuch

Last summer, through the creative work of Information Technology Specialist, Jennie Powers (College of Business/College of Agriculture), Alabama Water Watch (AWW) developed an infographic poster depicting Alabama’s world-class aquatic biodiversity. Did you know that Alabama ranks number one among all 50 states in the number of freshwater fish species (332 species, over a quarter of all of the freshwater fish species found in the United States), and number one in the number of crayfish, mussels, freshwater snails and freshwater turtles! We have species that rival the tropical fishes in their rainbow of colors and beauty.

Continue reading “AWW Infographic welcomes all to Alabama”

by Eric Reutebuch

Contributed article by:
By: Dr. Mimi Fearn – Co. Chair, 2017 Citizens Action Committee; Chair, DRCR Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator
Jason Kudulis – Monitoring and Science Coordinator, Mobile Bay National Estuary Program

Water watching is seeing a revival in the Mardi Gras City! Thanks to the efforts of Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and Dr. Mimi Fearn, former chair and faculty member in the Department of Earth Sciences  at University of South Alabama (retired), past president of the Dog River Clear Water Revival (DRCWR) and long-time water watcher and AWW water monitor trainer, the ranks of citizen monitors are growing as well as their watershed stewardship activities!

Continue reading “AWW monitor watches Mobile’s water”

by Whitney Henson

The Jacksonville River Monitors met last Saturday to test their local streams and celebrate three years of dedicated students working to make a positive impact on their community.

Continue reading “JRM celebrates their 3 year anniversary!”

by: eric reutebuch

Alabama Water Watch had a busy year in 2016, with several accomplishments and transitions, as we all continue along the path to fulfill our mission of improving both water quality and water policy through citizen monitoring and action. Read all about it in our 2016 annual report:

AWW 2016 Annual Report

by: eric reutebuch

Rasika Ramesh is a doctoral student in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University. Her research focuses on modeling hydrology and water quality of headwater wetlands in Alabama’s Coastal Plain to understand how they function. In her spare time, she has a passion for conducting outreach related to watershed stewardship to young and old alike. Check out her recent effort at Mama Mocha’s in Auburn.

Continue reading “AU grad student spreading the word – Watershed Stewardship!”

by: eric reutebuch

Stephen Tsikalas attended his first AWW workshops in 2014. He got certified as both a water chemistry and bacteriological monitor, then, in 2015, advanced to become an AWW trainer. He has integrated AWW water monitoring into his Geography curriculum at Jacksonville State University, where he teaches. Water quality monitoring provides the students with real-world beyond-the-classroom field experience that melds seamlessly into their Geography studies. Over the past two years, Stephen and his students have monitored local streams and springs in the Jacksonville area, and Stephen has conducted or assisted in several AWW trainings, certifying more than 75 new citizen volunteer monitors!

Continue reading “Stephen Tsikalas, AWW trainer & monitor extraordinaire!”