AWWareness

by: eric reutebuch

Bill Deutsch, Sergio Ruiz-Cordova and Eric Reutebuch traveled from their Auburn University-AWW offices to interact with the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy (WCSLA) water monitoring group last April 3rd. They met with five WCSLA monitors at Duncan Bridge on the Sipsey Fork of Lewis Smith Lake to recertify them in water chemistry monitoring. AWW citizen monitors must be recertified periodically as part of the AWW quality assurance plan, and to retain access to entering water data into the AWW statewide database.  The monitors have been actively monitoring at several locations on the west side of Smith Lake in Winston and Cullman counties.

 Click here for pictures of recert.

Continue reading “Winston County water monitors get refreshed by AWW”

By: eric reutebuch

Come join us and participate in planning for the future of the Tallapoosa River Basin!

The 5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference, The Tallapoosa River Basin –Moving Toward More Effective Water Policy will be at the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center at the Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City on Wednesday-Thursday, May 13th-14th, 2009. This year’s conference will focus on moving toward sustainable water management policy for the Tallapoosa River Basin.

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, the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, and Central Alabama Community College.

Go to www.twp.auburn.edu and, under TWP Highlights click the 5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference link to go to information on the conference, including the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan (8.2 megabite pdf file), conference announcement, and conference registration (required for lunch headcount), and additional information.

by: eric reutebuch

Master Gardeners get wet looking for bugs with AWW

A crew from the Alabama Water Watch Program at Auburn University traveled to the Dadeville Extension Office in October to participate in Extension’s new Water Smart program for Master Gardeners. Half a dozen Master Gardeners from Lee and Tallapoosa counties participated.

 

The mid-October meeting was the third in the Water Smart advanced training sessions for Master Gardeners – Advanced Concepts in Landscape Design. This third session, organized by Kerry Smith, ACES Outreach Specialist, featured a morning classroom lecture and presentation, “Making the Connection: Our Landscape, Our Stream, Our Watershed” by Eve Brantley, ACES Water Quality Specialist. The presentation covered various activities on the landscape and the types of nonpoint source pollution that they contribute to surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes and bays). Following the presentation, Tommy Futral, Tallapoosa County Extension Agent, demonstrated the use of the Enviroscape to demonstrate nonpoint source pollution to the public.

For more pictures, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27144609@N02/sets/72157609281633396/show

For the afternoon field activities, the AWW crew traveled with the Master Gardeners to a nearby stream that runs behind the Council Middle School in Dadeville. Eric Reutebuch demonstrated the use of the AWW water test kit to measure water chemistry. He measured the stream pH, which was neutral (pH = 7), and the dissolved oxygen (DO), which was more than adequate for supporting a healthy population of aquatic fauna (DO of 7.5 ppm, well above the minimum of 5 ppm mandated by ADEM for supporting a healthy aquatic community). Eric encouraged the group to enroll in the full AWW Water Chemistry and Bacteriological Monitoring workshops to become certified AWW water monitors and start monitoring surface waters in their hometown areas. Jayme Oates followed with a demonstration of the AWW bacteriological monitoring test. Jayme showed how simple it was to collect a water sample and mix it with media in a bottle, then plate the media out and incubate the sample in either a high-tech incubator or a home-made incubator (made from a small cooler, a night-light and a thermometer). Jayme described how the results of such a simple test indicate the presence/absence and quantity of E. coli bacteria as purple-to-blue colonies on the plates after a 30-48 hour incubation. She said that this test is becoming more and more popular with volunteer monitors throughout the state because of more frequent incidents of E. coli contamination in water and food, and human sicknesses that follow.

Sergio Ruiz-Cordova completed the afternoon program with a demonstration of AWW stream biomonitoring. Sergio showed the group how to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects, worms, crayfish, snails, clams) with two different types of nets, a small seine and a kick net. Then the group was ready to get their feet wet and start collecting aquatic bugs from the stream.  They collected for about half an hour and then gathered together to see what kind of aquatic community the small stream was supporting. Sergio identified the aquatic critters and assigned them to one of three AWW biomonitoring groups: Group 1 – sensitive critters intolerant of pollution, Group 2 –critters that tolerate a wide range of water quality conditions, and Group 3 – pollution-tolerant critters. The Master Gardeners had collected a total of 11 different aquatic critters: mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larva (two different types), riffle beetles, a water penny, crayfish, cranefly larva, blackfly larva, midge larva and aquatic worms. After calculating a cumulative biomonitoring score of 24 for the stream, they concluded that based on the aquatic fauna, the stream was in “Excellent” condition.

Sergio concluded the demonstration by saying that AWW stream biomonitoring is a great tool for teaching environmental science in schools. He said that AWW has adapted its citizen volunteer stream biomonitoring workshop into an accredited school curriculum, Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams, that is being taught to students in several schools in Alabama. To learn more about the AWW Program, the Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams curriculum, and other opportunities to get involved in monitoring, stewardship and management of Alabama’s streams, rivers, lakes and bays, visit the AWW website at www.alabamawaterwatch.org.

by: eric reutebuch

Enthusiasm for Smith Lake Grows at Alabama Water Watch’s 12^th Annual State of the Lake Address 

A group of over fifty Smith Lake residents gathered at Dodge City on the east side of Lewis Smith Lake in Cullman County for the12^th Annual State of the Lake Address. Alabama Water Watch staffers have been invited by Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee President, Debbie Berry, since 1997 for the annual event.

Bill Deutsch, AWW Program Director, began the State of the Lake Address with an update of AWW Program activities. He presented a list of stats on the Program, indicating that AWW has trained and certified about 4,900 citizen volunteer water monitors who have tested nearly 2,000 sites around the state and contributed 55,000 water quality records to the AWW statewide database. Bill briefly touched on half a dozen other projects that AWW is currently involved with, including Global Water Watch, the Tallapoosa Watershed Project, the Saugahatchee Watershed Management Plan, Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams Curriculum Training, an EPA project- Fostering Environmental Stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico, and a USGS-WRRI Livestock Producers Training. Bill said that he had just trained a group of Winston County producers the day before, who were eager to learn how to monitor on-farm bacteria levels in streams and ponds.

 Bill continued by identifying the five volunteer citizen groups that currently monitor water quality in the Smith Lake Watershed: Smith Lake Civic Association (SLCA), Camp McDowell (CM) and Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy (WCSLA) on the west side of the lake; and Cullman County SWCD (CULCO) and Smith Lake Environmental Preservation Committee (SLEPC) on the east side of the lake. 

Bill tallied the cumulative decade-plus volunteer monitoring effort on the lake – nearly 1,400 water quality data records at 52 sites (currently, 24 are active sites). He commended the group for their ongoing commitment to environmental protection and preservation.

Eric continued the program by presenting citizen monitor data trends on three tributary streams of the lake and three lake sites. All three of the streams had water quality problems at times. Crooked Creek had low dissolved oxygen levels, particularly during the 2007 drought. Blevins Creek (a tributary of Rock Creek) and Ryan Creek both had high E. coli concentrations at times. Bob Keefe, CULCO monitor extraordinaire (recipient of the AWW Monitor of the Year Award for most total data records submitted, 311 records in 2007) added that high E. coli counts coincided with significant rainfall events that flushed livestock and poultry waste into the streams. Eric indicated that Ryan Creek had been added to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management 2008 list of impaired streams, the 303(d) list, because of the presence of pathogens.

Eric then shifted to lake sites, starting with SLCA site #5 above Smith Lake Dam. A seven-year trend in Secchi Disk visibility measured by SLCA monitors Charles Boyd and Mack Gross showed that lake clarity has increased in recent years to 4-5 meters (about 15 feet), indicative of a very clean lake. Citizen data from two other lake sites, one on the Sipsey Fork, monitored by WCSLA volunteers Larry Barkey and Burt Jones, and one on Simpson Creek Embayment, monitored by Debbie and Bob Berry, also indicated good water quality associated with a clean lake. Eric summarized water quality of the whole Smith Lake Watershed as ‘pretty darn clean’ in the lake, with problems (bacteria and low dissolved oxygen) in some of the tributary streams.

Eric continued by touching on three watershed stewardship knowledge-to-action strategies that Smith Lake citizen groups have been engaged in, and new activities they might consider. All three strategies build on the decade-plus of volunteer water quality monitoring that the Smith Lake groups have been conducting across the watershed. Group activities in environmental education, the first stewardship strategy, have included SLEPC’s seasonal newsletter, WCSLA’s participation in the Winston County FAWN (Forestry Awareness Week Now) environmental education program, and Camp McDowell sponsoring teacher-training in the AWW Exploring Alabama’s Living Streams curriculum. Protection-Restoration activities, the second stewardship strategy, have included years of lake clean-ups by SLEPC, SLCA and recently by WCSLA, during which several million pounds of trash (mostly old Styrofoam floats from docks) have been removed from the lake.

Eric encouraged the groups to continue pursuit of a Watershed Management Plan for protection/restoration of the lake, stressing that once a plan was drafted by local stakeholders, they could apply to ADEM for funding on-the-ground projects to improve lake water quality. Eric introduced the concept of a Watershed Management Authority (WMA) as an example of advocacy, the third stewardship strategy. He said that there has been a lot of interest and discussion about the development of WMAs in Alabama at meetings of the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management. He stressed that the main benefits of formation of a local WMA are 1) more control of management of a watershed by local stakeholders, and 2) ability to manage on a watershed basis (instead of a town, city or county basis).

In closing, Eric presented a Smith Lake map marked with suggestions for key new sample sites on tributaries and their embayments that newly-trained monitors might consider testing. He said that tributaries act like the ‘canary-in-the-coalmine’ since monitors will detect pollutants there before they are detectable downstream in the main lake. He commended the eight new monitors – Dyana McKee, Deniece Hand, Donna Dunn, Ronald Baniel, Debby Barrett, Stephen Morros, Susan Stark and Lynn Martin; and the five veteran monitors – Bob Berry, Deb Berry, Mark Butler, John Kulbitskas and Katherine Butler, who were certified/recertified at the Berry residence on Simpson Creek Embayment the day before (by Sergio Ruiz-Cordova and Eric). He stressed that it would be through their efforts that long-term water quality data trends might continue to reveal the answer to the question ‘Is my water quality getting better, or is it getting worse’.

At the end of the presentation, Deb Berry, SLEPC President, thanked AWW for its continued support of citizen monitoring on Smith Lake, and presented Bill with a generous gift of a $500 to the AWW Program. On the road back to Auburn, the AWW staffers marveled over the renewed dedication of the citizen volunteers in the Smith Lake Watershed and their strong commitment to keeping their lake one of the cleanest in the Southeast. Click Here to see the whole presentation – 2008Smith SOLA

by: eric reutebuch

Winston County Water Watchers promote stream, lake and river protection

Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy, Inc. (WCSLA), a citizen volunteer monitoring group in the Lewis Smith Lake Watershed, taught children about water issues in this years FAWN Program. FAWN (Forestry Awareness Week Now) is an outdoor, hands-on field day for all of Winston County sixth graders, that the Winston County Natural Resources Council has sponsored for the last dozen years (see  http://wcnrc.blogspot.com/2008/10/2008-fawn-program-held-for-all-winston.html  for details).  

The program introduced 348 Winston County sixth graders to the wise use of our natural resources at eight learning stations, including GPS, Forest Management, Water Quality, Wildlife Management, Forest Fire Safety, ATV Safety, Forest Soils, and Beekeeping.  WCSLA volunteers Mary Ann Crunk and Judy Lambert introduced the kids to the water cycle, the value of our streams and lakes, types and sources of water pollution, and how citizens can test their local water quality by becoming a certified monitor with the AWW Program. Mary Ann showed the students how to test water using the AWW test kit.  Judy simulated pollution of a lake by holding up a milk jug of water ‘tainted’ with food coloring, which represented a pollutant such as motor oil. The students were amazed to learn that a single gallon of a pollutant such as motor oil will contaminate one million gallons of water in the lake. Students went away from the program with a much greater appreciation of Alabama’s water resources and knowledge of how they can get involved in protecting these resources.

The Winston County Natural Resources Council expressed appreciation to the following groups and individuals for making this year’s FAWN program a success:  the Haleyville and Winston County School Superintendents, all sixth grade teachers, Paul and Tiny Bowen, Charles Brannon, U. S. Forest Service, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama Forestry Commission, Double Springs Lions Club, Forest Stewardship Education Committee, Representative Jody Letson, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Northwest Alabama RC & D Council, Regional Paramedical Services, Winston County EMS, Senator Roger Bedford, Winston County Soil and Water Conservation Service, Winston County Commission, Winston County Emergency Management Agency, Winston County Farmers Federation, and the Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy, Inc.

by: eric reutebuch

Huntsville School win statewide Environmental Education Award, using AWW techniques.
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The Watershed Leadership Conference was held at Camp Beckwith in Fairhope, AL March 14 to 16, 2008.
Click here to read more about it.

Lake Wedowee Stewards got recertified to keep monitoring their Lake.
To Read More…

by: eric reutebuch

Birmingham-area groups are working to protect the habitat of this beautiful fish, found nowhere else in the world, that is restricted to three springs of the Black Warrior Watershed.
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