The Official Blog of Alabama Water Watch
The mission of HOBO (Home Owners Boat Owners) is to preserve, protect and improve the quality of life in and around Lake Mitchell.
One way we do this is through water monitoring.
CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
(SOURCE: The Clanton Advertiser)
Michael Freeman, U.S Coast Guard Flotilla Commander posted at Auburn University, presented AWW Program Director, Bill Deutsch and the AWW staff with an official Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Coast Guard on Feb.20, 2013, thanking AWW for their many years of service to the State of Alabama ‘in the protection of the State’s most valuable natural resource.’
Click Here to view the U.S. Coast Guard Letter presented to AWW
Dr. Bill Deutsch, AWW Director
Almost four years ago, I joined thousands of volunteers across the U.S. who monitor precipitation through a group called the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS, at www.cocorahs.org). Similar to our AWW network of monitors, we all use standardized equipment, similar sampling protocols and have an online database to enter, analyze, store and share the data. I ritually check my rain gage at 7 am most days and report the information online under my unique site code: AL-LE-7. You can see daily precipitation data for Alabama or by county via their website that includes my “data dot” on the map in west Lee County (color coded for precipitation amounts).
Emails and phone calls were abuzz last week among Auburn-area water watchers and creek residents who detected something amiss with their beloved Saugahatchee Creek. They reported to the Alabama Water Watch program office that the creek was running black, and that it had a foul odor! AWW staff promptly contacted municipal authorities, and both Auburn and Opelika sent out teams to figure out what was going on.
Continue reading “Water Watchers catch industrial sludge release into creek”
AWW accomplishments in 2012, though far from record-setting, were stable relative to the previous year in spite of limited funding for the program. AWW’s efforts date back to 1992, when ADEM provided funding to the AU Department of Fisheries for the establishment of a statewide volunteer monitoring program. Early accomplishments focused on compilation of science-based protocols for monitoring water quality that were doable by citizen volunteer monitors and rigorous enough to yield credible water data. Program Director, Bill Deutsch, had the foresight to go the extra mile and put forth considerable effort to compile and submit quality assurance plans for AWW water monitoring protocols to the EPA. The end results are EPA-approved water monitoring protocols used by all AWW-certified monitors throughout Alabama, and more importantly, the generation of credible water data that is being used in a myriad of applications, from formal and informal education, to waterbody protection and restoration, to improvements in local and statewide water management and policy.
Continue reading “AWW in 2012 Watershed Center of Excellence Report”
On Saturday October 20th, two Auburn-area AWW water monitor groups worked together to spread the word on water monitoring and watershed stewardship. Friends of Chewacla Creek and the Uphapee Watershed (CHEWUP) joined forces with Save Our Saugahatchee (SOS) to educate hundreds of passers-by at the Loachapoka Syrup Sop in Loachapoka, Alabama.
Alabama Water Watch believes that citizen monitoring can make Alabama’s waters safer and has recently drafted a position paper titled ‘A Science-Based, Community-Based Approach to Monitoring and Controlling Pathogens in Alabama Waters.’ The position paper outlines how credible data being collected by certified AWW monitors can be part of a cost-effective solution in addressing the threat of pathogen contamination to the public’s health.
Logan Martin Lake Protection Association (LMLPA) started water monitoring on the lake in 1996 to fulfill their mission of ‘GUARDING LOGAN MARTIN LAKE WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY’ (see www.lmlpa.org for more information). Over the past 16 years, LMLPA has coordinated the monitoring activities of 131 volunteers who have been trained and certified as Alabama Water Watch monitors. They have contributed over 2, 000 water chemistry records and 540 bacteriological records to the AWW statewide online database (accessible at www.alabamawaterwatch.org). Three have monitored faithfully for more than 15 YEARS (see graph below)!
In March 2012, AWW responded to a request for public input relative to ADEM’s 2012 draft 303(d) list of impaired streams. AWW examined volunteer monitor water data collected in recent years, and requested that ADEM consider this wealth of information as it evaluated the condition of the state’s streams, rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
ADEM held their Triennial Review of Alabama’s Water Quality Standards on July 19th, 2012. This review, conducted every three years, is a public hearing that gives the public an opportunity to become involved in the state’s water quality evaluation and review process through submission of data and comments.
AWW’s goal is not only to educate Alabama’s citizenry in water quality testing, but to empower people to use their water data and knowledge of water issues to become actively involved in the management of their local water resources.
In keeping with this data-to-action strategy, AWW water data from the past five years were queried and analyzed relative to ADEM water quality standards. Two queries were run, one to evaluate AWW sites based on dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and the other based on pathogen (E. coli bacteria) concentration. During this period, 13,437 water chemistry (six parameters, including DO) and 4,910 bacteria records were submitted to the AWW online database.
Results of the queries of these 18,000+ data records indicated that 20 streams were impaired from low DO (less than 5 ppm) and 9 waterbodies were impaired from excessive E. coli levels, based on defined criteria.
Click here for additional information included in the comments submitted to ADEM’s Triennial Review.