2019 Annual Conference

The Salt River Watershed Watch 2019 Annual Conference was a big success! 66 people attended the conference, which was held at US Geological Survey's offices in Jeffersontown, KY.

The conference was attended by 66 people who came out to learn about Salt River Watershed Watch and other projects and programs in this watershed. Conference participants included 22 volunteers and 44 from schools, government agencies and interested citizens. JoAnn Palmer from the Kentucky Division of Water provided a refresher training on monitoring procedures for existing volunteers. Click HERE for the Conference program, with links to presentations that are described below.

Students from Louisville Male High School displayed ideas for projects to clean up Beargrass Creek and a DuPont Manual student displayed her science fair display poster. The conference opened with a welcome from Russ Barnett, SRWW Steering Committee chair, followed by a presentation by Pete Cinotto, Assistant Director of the USGS Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky Water Resources Science Center. Pete described development the USGS "super gage" which included continuous monitoring on the Ohio River and some tributaries. Louisville Male Traditional High School students presented their 2-year study of litter in the lower reaches of Beargrass Creek and their innovative solutions to the problem. High school student Genesis Leemore described her work as a naturalist with the Beargrass and Waterfront Naturalist program over the summer of 2018, and Louisville Male teacher Angela Durbin Page described numerous environmental projects being installed on the high school campus. DuPont Manual High School students Arsonlove Abney, Brooklyn Adams and Zachary Estridge presented their science fair projects on conductivity, drinking water and filtration materials.

Monte McGregor, Ph.D. gave an excellent presentation on the amazing freshwater mussels found in the Salt River Watershed. Lisa Hite gave an overview of the Salt River Collaborative, which is Phase II of the Salt River Watershed Conservation Mapping Project. Sue Schneider from River City Paddle Sports Board of Directors described efforts of many groups to create a recreational trail from Portsmouth VA to West Point KY, over 275 miles! The trail is proposed to include water and land trails, camping and other facilities.

Russ Barnett presented SRWW's project to investigate sources of bacteria in Clear Creek in Shelbyville, KY using an innovative Compartment Bag Test manufactured by Aquagenx to test bacteria. Results showed that there was widespread elevated bacteria with no obvious hot spots and that the Aquagenx test kits can be used to screen streams for levels of bacteria. Its not as accurate as lab testing, but results were generally in the same category (low medium or high).

Karen Schaffer presented findings of the 2018 SRWW monitoring program and plans for SRWW in 2019. Similar to past years, volunteers found dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity met Kentucky's Water Quality Criteria at most sites. E. coli bacteria were elevated at many sites and about half of the sites had elevated conductivity. A range of habitat and benthic community conditions were found.

In 2019, SRWW will be holding 3 training sessions for new volunteers every Saturday in April. Sampling dates for bacteria, stream habitat and biology have been set for May, June, July and September. Numerous free and low cost canoe trips are planned starting in April - Click HERE to see the SRWW Calendar. Other plans include a tire cleanup in the Salt River below Taylorsville Lake Dam and investigations of sites with issues. Click HERE to link to conference photographs.