Volunteer monitoring groups have employed the AWW Exploring Our Living Streams (EOLS) curriculum, monitoring techniques and water data for environmental education and to positively impact community attitudes, water quality and water policy.
Environmental Education
Dozens of teachers have taken the EOLS workshops or have collaborated with AWW on various outreach events and projects to bring science and biology to life inside and beyond the classroom. One study showed that Alabama students who were taught with the EOLS curriculum, along with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service program Classroom in the Forest, over a four year period increased their Stanford Achievement Test scores (SAT 9 and SAT 10) from 50% to 70% (click here for details).
Success Stories:
- Auburn student monitors watch over Parkerson Mill Creek
- AU Biosystems students assess local stream
- Alabama 4-H Dives into Clean Water
- Are you smarter (and more environmentally conscious) than a 5th grader?
- Radney Elementary wins BEEP statewide environmental ed award
- Cary Woods School wins statewide environmental education award
- Isabella Water Watchers head to state fair
- Earth Teams receive awards for water monitoring
Restoration and Protection
Monitor groups have put their water data to work by identifying pollution problems, working in collaboration with local and state authorities to track and resolve the problems and restore water quality in streams, rivers and coastal waters. Groups have focused on the protection of threatened aquatic life, others on public health, and still others on aesthetics of the aquatic environment.
Success Stories
- AWW Friends and Volunteers Recognized with Spirit of Sustainability Awards
- AWW and Wolf Bay Watershed Watch Showcased Nationally
- Lake Watch and Lake Martin – in good hands!
- AWW teams up with GAA and the Forest Service to Protect Streams
- AWW Data Makes Swimming at Your Favorite Water Hole Safer
- Water Watchers catch industrial sludge release into creek
- LMLPA cuts through the crap to safeguard the public health
- AWW contributes evaluation of more than 18,000 data records for ADEM Triennial Review
- Five years of bacteria ‘blitzing’ makes Auburn-area a cleaner place to live
Advocacy and Water Policy
Some monitor groups have put their water data to work to upgrade their waterbody to a higher classification or designation, which provides greater protection to water quality. Groups in the Wolf Bay Watershed, the Magnolia River Watershed and the Choctawhatchee River Watershed used their water data in successful campaigns for classification upgrades. The group monitoring in the Lake Martin Watershed was instrumental in the development of a brand new protective designation for Alabama lakes, Treasured Alabama Lake, in collaboration with ADEM and former Governor Bob Riley. According to the President of Lake Watch of Lake Martin, “Alabama Water Watch provided the training, backstopping and science-based credibility that enabled our group to pursue and achieve upgrading and protecting the lake for generations to come.”
Success Stories
- Local Community supports Water Watchers
- AWW monitor wins Gold Award
- SOS native son earns distinction
- Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Group Receives Rise to the Future Award
- Lake Watch of Lake Martin impacts statewide water policy
- Volunteer monitors and Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, Inc. spearhead upgrade