The Official Blog of Alabama Water Watch
On June 6-7, 2023, a new cohort of educators gathered at the Alabama 4-H Center in Columbiana to complete their certification as 4-H Alabama Water Watch (AWW) Educators who will conduct bacteriological monitoring with their students in the coming school year. This is the second cohort of educators to be part of this NOAA BWET-funded project, which started with the first cohort in 2021.
Citizen science, or community science, is a field that has seen noticeable expansion and growing relevancy in recent years. Water quality monitoring programs are some of the most established citizen science programs in the U.S., and each program is unique in how it is organized, taught, the utility of and the parameters collected, data entry and activation, and more. These programs educate residents and empower them with a language that links land use decisions, climate, water quality, and overall ecosystem health.
Continue reading “AWW at the 2023 National Monitoring Conference”
Attention 4-12 grade teachers who would like an opportunity to engage your students with citizen science and watershed stewardship! 4-H Alabama Water Watch is happy to announce the continuation and expansion of the Exploring Pathogen Pollution in Our Waters Project, which is supported by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bays and Watershed Education Training (BWET) Program. 4-H AWW piloted the project successfully with Coastal Educators during the 2021-2022 school year. In 2023, educators and students from around the state (and beyond) can participate.
Continue reading “4-H AWW Opportunity for Teachers to Engage Students with Bacteriological Monitoring and Stewardship”
On April 26, 2022, students from Saraland High School participated in the 4-H Alabama Water Watch Student Project Forum held at Blakeley State Park in Spanish Fort, AL.
Continue reading “Students Explore Pathogen Pollution in Our Waters and the Beauty of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta”
There is incredible biodiversity in the state of Alabama – including freshwater snails, mussels, fish, and turtles. However, much of our biodiversity remains enigmatic. One group of organisms we lack critical information about are freshwater red macroalgae. Though rarely truly red in color, they provide food and habitat for macroinvertebrates and may serve as indicators of good water quality. However, they are not included in current biodiversity surveys in Alabama. To better understand the ecological role and potential usefulness of these algae as bioindicators, we first need to figure out where to find them.
This is where Alabama Water Watch monitors come in! We are asking for your help in identifying potential freshwater red algal habitat by taking photos of freshwater streams including your monitoring sites. The Krueger-Hadfield Lab will examine the photographs to assess whether they may provide good freshwater red habitat and to determine if they should be included in their surveys. In the future, they plan to provide training and supplies for interested AWW monitors to collect and send algal samples to the Krueger-Hadfield Lab at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
How to submit your photo:
FAQ’s:
Q: Do you have to be an AWW Volunteer Monitor to participate?
A: NO! Anyone can participate!
Q: What if I see something that looks like red algae at the waterbody?
A: Take a photo and submit that in the Red Algal Citizen Science Google Form at the same time as your site photo.
Q: Do I have to return the waterbody to take another photo at a later date? (i.e. next month, next year)
A: No, one photo is enough for now. The Krueger-Hadfield lab will get in touch with you if they are interested in a follow-up photo of your site.
Q: Can I submit a photo of any freshwater stream?
A: Yes! Any flowing freshwater stream will be appropriate for this project.
If you’d like to learn more about freshwater red algae and the Red Algal Citizen Science Project at UAB, view the 3-1-2022 webinar recording, “Red Algal Citizen Science: A Search for Alabama’s Unknown Red Algal Biodiversity“.
Have you heard people buzzing about citizen science lately? Did you know April is Citizen Science Month?! It seems that over the last few years, this term has been popping up everywhere. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, citizen science is “scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions.” We also refer to this concept as community-science.; however, this is not a new phenomenon.
Continue reading “April is Citizen Science Month!”
After two years of not being able to easily and safely train new monitors, AWW has been off to the races in 2022! AWW staff recently led two hybrid AWW monitoring trainings that included self-paced, online courses and finished with an in-person field day. We have been very pleased with the new format. What began as a response to the pandemic is turning out to be a great fit for the program. We hope COVID is on its way out, but the new training model won’t go away.
Continue reading “AWW Training Recaps: February in Auburn & Camp McDowell in March “
In 2019, Legacy, Inc. Partners in Environmental Education selected the Alabama Water Watch Association’s project ” Helping 4-H’ers to Watch Our Waters” for an Environmental Education Grant. The project’s goal was to provide active 4-H AWW groups with monitoring materials for the current school year.
Continue reading “Legacy Helps 4-H’ers Watch Our Waters!”