AWWareness

by: eric reutebuch

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”

by: eric reutebuch

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.

Continue reading “Water Watchers spread the good word”

by: eric reutebuch

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.

Click here to download the Position Paper

by: eric reutebuch

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)!

Continue reading “LMLPA cuts through the crap to safeguard the public health”

by: eric reutebuch

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.

Continue reading “ADEM acknowledges value of citizen water data”

by: eric reutebuch

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.

AWW was recently featured in River Network’s newsletter, River Voices, with an article titled ‘Volunteer Monitoring Data: Data to Action Southern Style’.

Click here for article

Auburn University is fortunate to have a dedicated group of student environmentalists on campus who make up the Environmental Awareness Organization (EAO). EAO members have regular meetings which usually involve a special activity or speaker meant to enrich their knowledge of environmental issues. Although the group is small they manage to support many environmental initiatives around Auburn including game-day recycling, the Green Living Workshop, the Recycled Art Workshop, and Earth Fest.

Each year local bands, vendors, and other environmental organizations set up stage in the Donald E. Davis Arboretum on Auburn University’s campus for an all day event called EarthFest, which is open to the public. Not only is EarthFest an opportunity for folks to celebrate Earth Day, it’s an opportunity for environmental organizations to promote their causes, and a fundraiser for EAO. This year’s EarthFest was a huge success!

AWW Display at 2012 EarthFest

Throughout the years many members of the EAO have become AWW water monitors, and have monitored sites throughout the Auburn area. They understand the mission of AWW and feel that it is an important organization for Alabama. As a gesture of their support to AWW, EAO decided to donate portion of their EarthFest proceeds to AWW. On April 25th, EAO members presented AWW with a check for $500!

AWW is very appreciative of this generous gift! This donation will allow new monitors to be certified through AWW workshops, and will provide chemicals to active monitors so that they can continue to collect valuable water data.  This group of young, dedicated, and giving individuals should be an inspiration to us all and a glimpse of what the future of Alabama’s environmental movement can be. Thanks again EAO!

For more information or to become a member of the Environmental Awareness Organization visit http://auburneao.weebly.com/.

Lexie Larkin is a 15-year old ninth grader at Sumter Academy in York, Alabama. She loves sports, especially volleyball, basketball and softball. Unfortunately, she suffered two knee injuries with two accompanying knee surgeries that influenced her to pursue other interests.

Lexie’s uncle Bill Peters and aunt Flo live on Fogle Lake near Alabaster, Alabama. Bill and Flo have been certified as Alabama Water Watch (AWW) water monitors, and have monitored the lake for over two years. Bill is also in the process of becoming an AWW trainer so that he can train others to monitor.  During her visits to the lake, Bill and Flo got Lexie interested in water monitoring, and taught her how to do the various water chemistry tests. The standard AWW kit, manufactured by LaMotte, measures six parameters: temperature, pH, alkalinity, hardness, turbidity and dissolved oxygen.

Lexie conducting pH test under her Uncle Bill’s watchful eye

Continue reading “Water Watching inspires a Sumter Eagle to soar!”