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VOLUNTEER MONITORING
Ani'ama'
- The Water People
Pronounced
as ah-nee-ah-wah from the Lower Dialect of the Cherokee Indians.
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A local volunteer receives training to
begin sampling the water quality
of Shooting Creek in Clay County, N.C. |
Volunteer Information:
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2008 Sampling Dates
(3rd Saturday of
every month)
Jan. 19, Feb. 16, Mar. 15,
Apr. 19,
May 17, June 21, July 19, Aug. 16,
Sept. 20, Oct. 18, Nov. 15
Samples will
not be taken in December or January. Sampling will resume in
February 2009. |
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The
Coalition began a volunteer monitoring program in the fall of 2002.
Currently, a group of about 50 volunteers called
Ani'ama',
a Cherokee word meaning, "The Water People", collect and
test water samples on the third Saturday of each month as part of western
North Carolina's Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN).
The Coalition has two teams: One group samples 10 sites
on streams in the Lake Chatuge watershed; the second samples 10 sites in the
Lake Nottely watershed. [Current streams and volunteers are listed on the
Chatuge and
Nottely team pages respectively.]
Click here for a list
of all past and present
Ani'ama'
volunteers.
Volunteers
record the time and date of collection, air and water temperature,
rainfall in the past three days, the observed water flow rate, and
general condition of the stream. They test the dissolved oxygen level at
the site and collect six bottles of water to be transported to Asheville
under refrigeration on the following Monday. The laboratory at the
University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) tests for ammonia,
nitrates, phosphates, turbidity, total solids, conductivity, alkalinity,
pH, copper, lead and zinc and dissolved oxygen saturation, a function of
temperature and altitude. The cost of the chemical analysis is $400 per
site, per year through the VWIN program. Site sponsorship is available
and HRWC is currently seeking funding to continue this program in 2007
and beyond. Contact the
Executive Director for more information.
The results
of the testing done at UNCA are sent via e-mail to the Coalition office.
The HRWC staff then sends them out to our volunteers also via e-mail.
Most volunteers are able to view them on their home computers. We have a
very dedicated group of volunteers who have been diligent in performing
their testing and sampling! Currently,
the Coalition has five years of data from the Chatuge tributary
sites and nearly four years of data from the Nottely sites. If you are
interested in this data, click on one of the following links:
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Fay Kennedy samples the
temperature
of Eagle Fork Creek in
spring of 2004. |
Jim and Dan Malte receive
training on testing the
dissolved oxygen at Meeks
Park in Union Co., Ga. |
Click
here to contact the Coalition office if you are interested in water quality
monitoring in your area.
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