Event information: Conodoguinet Creek Snapshot, June 23, Kaufman Hall
The 5th installment of the Conodoguinet Creek Snapshot was on June 23. The Snapshot is a collaboration with the Cumberland County Conservation District and is an exciting opportunity for both community members and ALLARM Watershed Coordinators. In this year-long series of monitoring, volunteers collect water samples from various parts of the creek and its tributaries on the same day. They then test the water on-site and in ALLARM’s lab to better understand the health of the water at one point in time. This is carried out once each season, and after a successful first year, the decision was made to continue for a second year.
This was my fourth time attending a Snapshot event and it was just as invigorating as all of the others. I had the opportunity to speak with community members and learn more about their personal attachments to and interests in the health of the creek. I also have the unique privilege of building relationships with community members who have attended every Snapshot because we now recognize one another and can share conversation more freely than if it had been our first encounter. Certain community members brought their children to the event and included them in the process of carrying out water chemistry procedures. This was an exciting challenge as I had to explain scientific concepts and parameters in ways they could understand, while still conveying their importance in the context of water health. I was working at the nitrate station throughout the day and had the chance to have high quality conversations with community members because each sample had to sit for five minutes before it could be analyzed. I learned a great deal about the different sites that people had monitored and their connections to the stream.
I also had the opportunity to see the Conodoguinet Creek up close and personal the day before the Snapshot because several volunteers were unable to monitor their sites. As such, the ALLARM Watershed Coordinators visited those sites to collect data and samples. I enjoyed this experience and was able to discuss the sites with the community members at the event. The only negative part of the experience was when I fell into a particularly muddy part of the creek where cows from a neighboring farm cross the stream. After my accidental dip in the water, I certainly gained a personal interest in hoping it was of good health!
Helping a community member to measure the nitrate levels at her site. Nitrate in water is an indicator of potential pollutants such as fertilizers from agriculture and animal or human waste.