AWWareness

by: eric reutebuch

AWW joined with the City of Auburn, the Auburn University Water Resources Center, and Natures Tap in sponsoring an Introduction to Rainwater Harvesting Workshop (ARCSA 100-level course). Tia Gonzales, the leader of last year’s Community Rain Barrel Workshops (sponsored by the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan) organized the ARCSA workshop.

ARCSA 100-level course agenda

O-A News article on the workshop

ARCSA, the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1994 to promote rainwater catchment systems in the United States. ARCSA’s mission is to promote sustainable rainwater-harvesting practices to help solve potable, non-potable, stormwater and energy challenges throughout the world. ARCSA encourages all rainwater harvesting enthusiasts to learn about rainwater harvest and join the ARCSA organization (see www.arcsa-usa.org for more information).

Pictures of Historical Society’s Rainwater Harvest System

 The 100-level workshop was held in Loachapoka, AL at the Lee County Historical Society. Thirty-two people participated, from as far away as Pennsylvania and Texas! Historical Society volunteers provided delicious snacks and beverages. Participants learned the basics of rainwater harvest from ARCSA instructor, Tim Pope, and were shown numerous systems, large and small, that have been installed around the country. Tim emphasized that rainwater harvest can be, and is for many, a viable sole-source of water for a household or a business, especially in Alabama where we get relatively abundant rainfall spread throughout the year (about 52 inches annually, on average).

Some valuable rainwater harvest tidbits that I learned at the workshop are:

• One square foot of rooftop yields 0.6 gallons of water from a 1” rain,
• A 2000 square foot home can harvest about 63,156 gallons of rainwater per year from the roof,
• Black rain tanks are best because they don’t allow light inside and therefore prevent algae growth inside the tank,
• If one desires to use rainwater for potable use, there are several ways to sterilize the water, including chlorination, ultraviolet light treatment, ozone treatment and reverse osmosis. Some are more effective than others.

It is encouraging to see an increasing number of rainwater harvest systems in the Auburn/Opelika area. Go take a look at some of these examples and be inspired:

SWaMP helps with 3 Rs of Cary Woods Elementary Environmental Ed Project

Rooftop rain catchment tour

Alternative sources of water plus pollution reduction – A Win-Win!

SWaMP supports Rain Catchers

by: eric reutebuch

Alabama Water Watch (AWW) was recently cited by AU President, Jay Gogue, Ph.D., in a letter to AU alumni (click here for letter). The letter expressed the concerns of the Auburn Family over the Gulf oil spill, and AU’s involvement in mediating the environmental disaster.

AWW’s involvement in the Gulf dates back to the early 1990’s when the statewide program began training citizen volunteers to monitor water quality. Coastal groups eagerly embraced the opportunity to become AWW-certified water monitors, and to employ the EPA-approved testing methods in monitoring their estuaries, bays and bayous. To date, coastal water monitoring groups have contributed over 20,000 water quality records (15,540 water chemistry records, 5,278 bacteria records, and 55 bioassessment records through July 2010) to the AWW statewide database, and are actively monitoring 119 sites.

AWW volunteer monitors often do much more than water testing. During AWW training workshops, they learn about the watershed concept, water quality, various pollutants that foul surface waters, how to test water quality, and ways to put their water data to work. Many go beyond testing, into watershed preservation, restoration and advocacy. Several, like Ann Crawford of the Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, are currently taking an active role as volunteer observers, checking coastal marshes, bays and wetlands for signs of oil pollution (read more at the AL.com blog, and at the AU Oil Spill blog). This spirit of volunteerism and stewardship of people across Alabama is the heart and soul of Alabama Water Watch!

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”

by: eric reutebuch

The 6th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference, The Tallapoosa River Basin will be at the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center at the Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010.

This year’s organizers and sponsors include the Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Water Watch, the Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, Lake Martin Home Owners & Boat Owners Association, and Central Alabama Community College.

Conference topics include:

• An update on the tri-state water wars
• Progress of the FERC dam relicensing
• Watershed management in the Tallapoosa River Basin

For the agenda and to register for the conference, Click Here.

For additional information, contact conference coordinator, Jayme Oates at the Alabama Water Watch Office at Auburn University ( oatesjm@auburn.edu , (888) 844- 4785).

To view the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan (8.2 megs), Click Here.

To learn about water issues in the Tallapoosa Basin, read the Alabama Water Watch publications on Lake Wedowee (click here) and Lake Martin (click here), compiled in collaboration with Lake Wedowee Property Owners Assoiciation and Lake Watch of Lake Martin.

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.