Water Quality Monitoring Activities in the Park

 

 

Training

 

Each workshop is independent of the others and is appropriate for volunteers that are at least 15 years of age.  All workshops are free but pre- registration is required. A confirmation e-mail with directions and details will be sent one week prior to the workshop.  (One PLU credit is available to Georgia certified teachers for 10 hours of certification training.) 

 

Contact Susan Meyers smmeyers@gmail.com to register. Registration deadline is one week before each workshop

Getting Started with Georgia Adopt-A-Stream
Saturday, May 5, 2012                                    10 am – 2 pm

This workshop is based on the manuals Getting To Know Your Watershed and Visual Stream Survey. Volunteers learn about the process of registering the stream that they will monitor, how to use maps to delineate and assess their watershed. The second half of the workshop is spent at a stream conducting the visual stream survey and learning how to do a stream cross-section and calculate flow. This workshop is not required for Georgia Adopt-A-Stream volunteers but is highly recommended.

  

Chemical Monitoring Workshop for Quality Assurance
Saturday, June 9, 2012                                   10 am – 1 pm

This workshop teaches volunteers about basic stream water chemistry and how to conduct the physical/chemical tests. Volunteers are given a field test and written test. Volunteers who collect data within 10% accuracy and pass the written test with a score of 80% or better will be certified as a Georgia Adopt-A-Stream QA/QC volunteer for one year.

 

Biological Monitoring Workshop for Quality Assurance
Saturday, July 14, 2012                                   10 am – 3 pm

This workshop teaches volunteers how to assess the biological health of a stream by focusing on collection techniques for muddy bottom streams and macroinvertebrate identification. Volunteers are given a field test and written test. Volunteers who identify twenty macroinvertebrates with 90% accuracy and pass the written test with a score of 80% or better will be certified as a Georgia Adopt-A-Stream QA/QC volunteer for one year.

  

Bacterial Monitoring Workshop for Quality Assurance
Saturday, August 11, 2012                                           10 am – 1 pm

This workshop teaches volunteers how to monitor Escherichia coli levels in streams. E. coli is an indicator organism that is often used to assess potential health hazards associated with polluted water. This workshop will focus on proper sample collection, plating techniques, and the reading and interpretation of results. Volunteers who successfully perform the bacterial monitoring and pass the written test with a score of 90% or better will be certified as a Georgia Adopt-A-Stream QA/QC volunteer for one year.

 

Please visit the calendar on Georgia Adopt-A-Stream website http://www.georgiaadoptastream.org/home.html for a list of workshops being offered in other locations.

 

 

 

In order to encourage registered Georgia Adopt-A-Stream groups to participate in the Bacterial Monitoring protocol, SMMA is offering at cost a Bacterial Monitoring Pack. 

Bacterial Monitoring Packet>>>

Additional bacterial monitoring information>>>

 

 

 

For your classroom

Adopt-a-Stream EnviroScape® Wetlands Unit available for use in your classroom.

 

 

 

Our Park Monitoring Efforts

The Education Staff have monitored Stone Mountain Creek for years.  See the data from this site. http://georgiaadoptastream.com//db/Sites.asp?SiteID=316.  As of August 1, 2009, the website became open to the public so that even without being certified, you can view data from all over the state.