Update: Audio added of our Sounds Good interview with Maggie Morgan, Basin Coordinator for the Jackson Purchase Foundation, speaking about the Four Rivers Watershed Watch and its need for volunteers. The Four Rivers Watershed Watch is a coordinated campaign of water quality monitoring, skills development, and advocacy.
An organization that monitors water quality in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee is seeking citizen science volunteers for its 15th stream study. Four Rivers Watershed Watch trains volunteers in biological and chemical analysis of water samples. Volunteers also collect samples for laboratory analysis.
Four Rivers Basin Coordinator Maggie Morgan says though the organization collects the data, their purpose is to educate, not regulate.
“Our goal is to educate people so that they place a value on clean water. To make them understand why clean water is important. And then to highlight troubled areas where regulatory agencies can then come in and do their thing,” Morgan said.
The organization tracks data from nearly 70 sites on streams, rivers, and lakes in the region. Morgan says there are around 120 trained volunteers that collect water samples 3 times a year.
“Most volunteers pick a stream that they’re interested in, something in their back yard or somewhere where they want their kids or grandkids to play and so they’re interested and they continue to sample it for several years,” Morgan said.
Morgan says the biggest problem facing Kentucky waterways is non-point source pollution, which can include runoff from parking lots, failing septic systems, and agricultural and golf course fertilizers. She says volunteers have helped detect the impairment of several streams, including Damon Creek in Calloway County, Chestnut Creek in Marshall County and the Little River in Christian County. Data is used to create plans that enhance streams for fishing, swimming, wildlife habitat, and drinking water supply.
New volunteers will attend one of two workshops that take place at Murray State University’s Hancock Biological Station on Kentucky Lake.
· APRIL 15, Friday 9am to 12pm: Phase I training – Team and site selection, water chemistry training
· APRIL 15, Friday, 12:30pm to 4:30pm: Phase II training – Habitat and bio-assessment training, field training
· JUNE 9, Thursday, 5:30pm to 8:30pm: Phase I training – Team and site selection, water chemistry training
· JUNE 11, Saturday, 8:30am to 12:30pm: Phase II training – Habitat and bio-assessment training
Those interested in volunteering can contact Maggie Morgan, at (270) 559-4422 or register on-line at the project web page at 4rww.jpf.org.
