5th Annual Alabama Clean Water Partnership Conference

The Walker County Soil and Water Conservation District was recognized by the Black Warrior Clean Water Partnership at the Alabama Clean Water Partnership 5th Annual Watershed Conference that was held in Clanton, AL, on December 2, 2009. Each agency that is represented in the photo was awarded a limited edition print for their efforts in assisting the Black Warrior Clean Water Partnership. The print is the 5th in a series of numbered nature prints by Keith Smith who is a local artist. Pictured from left to right is Danny Hensley (US Army Corp of Engineers), Patti Pennington (Black Warrior Clean Water Partnership), Johnnie Johnston (Southeast Sewer Systems), Abner Patton (Patton Geologics), Ann Wynn (Geological Survey of Alabama), Katherine Patton (Walker County Soil and Water Conservation District) and Barbara Newman (Jefferson Co. Health Dept).

Cawaco RC&D Council water chemistry kit grant received

15 water chemistry kits were received and donated to Maddox Middle School and Walker High School. The kits were made available thanks to a grant that was received from the Cawaco RC&D Council. These kits will be used in science and chemistry classes to perform monthly monitoring tests on Town Creek and Doctors Branch. Each month the students will monitor temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, total alkalinity, total hardness and turbidity and will then enter the resulting data on the Alabama Water Watch website. Maddox Middle School will be monitoring Town Creek which has recently undergone a $500,000 Cawaco funded restoration project. The kits will allow the students to study how a revitalized stream maintains a healthier aquatic ecosystem as well as providing an outdoor hands on activity along with participating in a long term study that teaches the importance of how our every day life activities impact water quality and the environment.