Roswell residents will have a chance to explore the health of their waterways in February thanks to free workshops held by Adopt-A-Stream, Keep Roswell Beautiful, and the City of Roswell.
Two February Workshops for Adopt-A-Stream:
Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Training Workshop
Virtual Classroom Session: Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 6:30 PM
Field Session: Saturday, March 26, 2022, Time and Location TBD Register Online
Chemical Monitoring Training Workshop
Virtual Classroom Session: Wednesday, February 23, 2022, 6:30 PM
Field Session: Saturday, March 26, 2022, Time and Location TBD Register Online
A macroinvertebrate monitoring workshop will be held virtually on February 16 to examine insects, mollusks, and crustaceans in the water. These creatures are excellent indicators of both water quality and habitat. The workshop will focus on macroinvertebrate collection techniques and identification; in other words, catching cool animals.
The chemical monitoring workshop, on February 23, teaches basic stream water chemistry and how to conduct chemical tests using hand-held field equipment. The basic set of tests include dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, and temperature.
The training workshops consist of two sessions each. A virtual classroom session will last 1.5-2 hours. Field demonstrations and test portions will last about 2 hours and will be at a streamside location within Roswell to be determined. The field portion can be scheduled at a different time for participants who cannot make the March 26 date.
The contents of the workshops are appropriate for adults and teens. Children ages 10+ are welcome with adult supervision and family water quality monitoring is encouraged. This workshop may count as 5 hours of Georgia Standards of Excellence professional development for educators. Participants who score well on tests after the workshops can "adopt" streams and are certified to conduct their own monitoring of the waterways.
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is a community science water quality monitoring program encouraging all Georgians to get familiar with their watersheds, monitor impacts, improve streams, rivers, wetlands, and lakes, and inform others about their effect on water quality. Adopt-A-Stream volunteers gather different types of data and contribute to the statewide effort to monitor our system of waterways. Keep Roswell Beautiful and the City of Roswell are happy to co-sponsor this program locally, offering hands-on training and education.
