Well, is the Water Clean? Water Quality Monitoring Internship with the Satilla Riverkeeper
Author: Tyler Fitzgerald
Faculty Supervisor: C. Tate Holbrook, Ph.D.
Abstract:
Over the past nine months I have had the awesome experience of interning for the Satilla Riverkeeper, Laura Early. If there is one thing that I have learned through this whole experience it is that the Riverkeeper “wears many hats” and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to try some of them on. Largely, my role was Water Quality Monitoring Assistant, which consisted of primarily bi-weekly and monthly testing and monitoring of chemical and bacterial parameters at five sites along the Satilla River and its tributaries as well as detecting the presence and prevalence of micro plastic at Turtle River Park. Unfortunately, the full results of the micro plastic sampling are still unavailable. At each site, I did two very important things: 1) I assessed and monitored the health of our local waters, and 2) I assessed the human health risk with contact of the associated water during the most crucial time of the year. I did this by tracking and logging several physical, chemical, and bacterial parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, PH, and bacterial coliform units of E. coli. To see my full results, safety notifications, and much more, you can go to https://adoptastream.georgia.gov/ which is also relayed to www.theswimguide.org, a live water quality reporting webpage free to the public.
