| Riverwatch recruits Hoosiers to monitor their water quality |
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| By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Teaching Indiana residents about the quality and health of the water around them is the goal of the Hoosier Riverwatch program.
“We hope people learn about the watersheds, and we want to encourage stewardship,” said Jane Loomis, executive director of the St. Joseph River Watershed Initiative (SJRWI), which hosted a Hoosier Riverwatch training session last month. “Sometimes it’s hard for people to realize the effect they have on water quality.”
Hoosier Riverwatch, a state Department of Natural Resources program, trains public volunteers to monitor the water quality and health of rivers and streams. The program teaches trainees to perform biological, chemical and habitat analyses.
“Once they learn to take water quality information, they can post it on an online database for the general public,” Loomis said. “That’s not our main reason for offering the program, but it’s an important source of information.”
At least 700 sites statewide are listed on the database, said Jerry Hohla, a workshop instructor and retired chemist and soil scientist.
“Education is the number one goal of the program,” he said. “The nice thing about it is, with all the materials and training, you don’t have to be a scientist in order to do it, but you just have to follow the rules for monitoring and entering the information in the database.”
Training sessions are offered several times a year across the state.
During the one-day sessions, participants learn how to collect water and biological samples and how to identify the bugs they collect. They also learn to assess habitats for plants and animals in and along the river or stream.
“We’re trying to increase public awareness and trying to emphasize the environmental problems we’re encountering these days,” Hohla said.
Monitoring is important to determine a stream’s health and to collect baseline information, he said. Volunteers may also identify pollution sources, help determine if a waterway is safe for recreation and learn and teach environmental principles, he said.
Participants receive a stream monitoring training manual, which contains information on how to identify various bugs and insects, how to perform chemical tests and how to compile information for the online data base.
Hohla said he is one of 20 instructors in Indiana.
“I don’t think of it as a job. I love it,” he said. “It’s important to get people, especially students, involved. You do learn a lot more tromping through the water. It sticks with you.”
Teachers often participate in the sessions, Hohla said. “We’re educating the educators,” he said.
“They can take the principles they learn here and apply them to their classrooms.”
The SJRWI is a nonprofit organization that promotes improvement in the water quality of the St. Joseph River.
“Eighty percent of Fort Wayne’s drinking water comes from the St. Joe River,” Hohla said. “The more junk in the drinking water, the more it costs to clean it up.”
This farm news was published in the Sept. 5, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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