For the past 25 years, an Auburn University-based group of devoted citizens has watched over and protected Alabama's miles of rivers and streams.
Founded in 1992 thanks to federal grant money through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Water Watch monitors these waterways in order to improve both water quality and water policy.
In their quarter-century of service, Alabama Water Watch monitors 132,000 miles of rivers and streams, 300 species of freshwater fish, crayfish, snails, turtles and mussels, more than any other state.
“Many people didn’t think we would last a year because they thought Alabamians were not interested in their water or their environment,” said Bill Deutsch, Alabama Water Watch co-founder and research fellow emeritus in Auburn University’s School of Fisheries,
Deutsch directed Alabama Water Watch for its first 22 years and remains heavily involved in the association. He enjoys reminding those who were skeptical in the beginning about the longevity and effectiveness of Alabama Water Watch, according to "The Season".
“Interest in the program exploded, and over the past 25 years, we’ve worked with more than 300 community groups throughout Alabama,” Deutsch said. “Water Watch has trained 7,400 citizen monitors who have monitored 2,300 sites on streams, rivers, lakes,
Alabama Water Watch uses EPA-approved monitoring plans with a community-based approach to train citizens to monitor conditions and trends of their local waterbodies, Deutsch said. With a “data-to-action” focus, the group helps volunteers collect, analyze and understand their data to make positive impacts.
“It’s all voluntary, covering 800 bodies of water,” Deutsch said. “This ‘citizen science’ only grows in value over time because the baseline of information gets larger.”
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