{"id":5984,"date":"2015-07-30T19:49:22","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T19:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.auburn.edu\/aww\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2023-05-08T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T13:33:09","slug":"the-jacksonville-river-monitors-making-a-big-splash-in-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/the-jacksonville-river-monitors-making-a-big-splash-in-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville River Monitors make a big splash in Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stephen G. Tsikalas, Ph.D. and Jade Patolo, M.S.<\/em>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JacksonvilleRiverMonitors<\/a><\/p>\n

Established in February of 2014 by Jade Patolo with the assistance of Ms. Francine Hutchinson and Dr. Stephen Tsikalas, the Jacksonville River Monitors (JRM) are a group of citizen and student scientists concerned about water quality and land-use management in the Coosa River Basin. Our monitors receive training through Alabama Water Watch\u00a0(AWW) in water chemistry (pH, temp, turbidity, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, hardness) and bacteriology [Escherichia coli<\/em> (E. coli<\/em>) and other coliforms] methods for fresh water.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On site conducting water chemistry monitoring at AL 204 in Jacksonville, AL on a chilly winter day. Left to right, LaVern Barrs, Payten Samuels, and Jade Patolo<\/p><\/div>\n

Founded by geographers at Jacksonville State University, the JRM are also interested in how hazards and land-use affect water quality. To that end, we are also interested in mapping changes in our environments when we see fluctuations in water quality data. With the mentorship and training of Francine Hutchinson (awesome AWW trainer \u2013 see http:\/\/wp.auburn.edu\/aww\/meet-our-water-watchers-meoww-francine-hutchinson-aww-trainer-extraordinaire<\/u><\/a>), we have trained and certified over 40 students and citizens in the Jacksonville area.\u00a0 Our students hail mainly from geography, but we also have trained biology, chemistry, and English students as well.<\/p>\n

\"Alysha<\/a>

Alysha Shaw and Stephen Tsikalas in the JSU Water Quality Lab showing off our AWW swag and new geography club T-shirt.<\/p><\/div>\n

The data collection has led to several academic presentations and currently an academic article is in progress.\u00a0 A significant part of the academic presentations included the promotion of AWW, its history, and the outstanding work the volunteers do.\u00a0 Our research has taken us to Tampa, FL and Chicago, IL for the annual Association of American Geographers conferences of 2014 and 2015, respectively.\u00a0 We attended these conferences with student monitors Barbara Edwards, Whitney Henson, Phillip Jones, and Payten Samuels.\u00a0 These conferences have allowed us to reach a wide audience of geographers from around the world!<\/p>\n

\"Whitney<\/a>

Whitney Henson (left) and Barbara Edwards (right) in the Water Quality Lab prepping the bacteriological samples for incubation.<\/p><\/div>\n

One of our monitors and recent geography graduate students, Kaila Brown, presented our data at the Alabama Academy of Science Conference in the spring of 2015 and won the outstanding student presentation award.\u00a0 Kaila is going to begin a geography master\u2019s program at the University of Alabama, where she plans to continue research and monitoring of Alabama fresh water.\u00a0 We are so proud of her!<\/p>\n

Another success story is our most dedicated monitor, Whitney Henson.\u00a0 She has been with the JRM since the beginning and has yet to miss a monitoring session or training date.\u00a0 This is quite impressive considering we have been meeting once a month for over a year and a half and have had at least five different training sessions!\u00a0 She has been a tremendous help with the organization of our group and is going to take the leadership role now that Jade is serving in Belize with the Peace Corps for the next two years.\u00a0 Whitney has recently become a certified trainer for both chemistry and bacteriological monitoring and plans to hold training events at Jacksonville State University (JSU) each semester along with Dr. Stephen Tsikalas.\u00a0 Whitney is a recent geography graduate and will be continuing at JSU in the Emergency Management Master\u2019s Program. \u00a0She has been instrumental in the success of the JRM and we are very thankful to have her!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The JRM gather to celebrate one full year of monitoring (February 2015). Left to right, Thomas Eyler, Kaila Brown, Allen Jones, Andrew Green, Payten Samuels, LaVern Barrs, Heather Carter, Whitney Henson, Zach Flynn, Barbara Edwards, and Alysha Shaw.<\/p><\/div>\n

The JRM is incredibly thankful to AWW for all the materials, training, and wonderful people who have helped us get this far!\u00a0 We plan to continue monitoring our streams and empowering citizens to use their data to protect and restore our local waters!<\/p>\n

Authors:
\nStephen G. Tsikalas, Ph.D. and Jade Patolo, M.S.
\nDepartment of Physical & Earth Sciences\u00a0 Jacksonville State University\u00a0 700 Pelham Road N\u00a0 Jacksonville, AL 36265\u00a0 Email:\u00a0stsikalas@jsu.edu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stephen G. Tsikalas, Ph.D. and Jade Patolo, M.S. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JacksonvilleRiverMonitors Established in February of 2014 by Jade Patolo with the assistance of Ms. Francine Hutchinson and Dr. Stephen Tsikalas, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-alabama-water-watch","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7662,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions\/7662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}