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Imagine a Day Without Water is a national education campaign that brings together diverse participants to highlight how water is essential, invaluable, and in need of investment. This year, the day of action will take place on October 19, 2023, and will include nationwide events, resolutions, student contests, social media engagement, and more.

CCWSA is hosting IADWW writing contest for middle and high School students with a $100 prize.

Contest details:

IADWW is a day to reflect on the importance of water in our lives across the planet. Write a story about a day without water is used, conservation methods and ideas for advancements in water technology. Show us your creativity in your characters and theme. Do the characters find a way to help or solve the problem? Resources can be found at Imagine A Day Without Water

*Story should be a minimum of 500 words but no more than 2000 words.
*Must be Times Roman 12 pt
*Entries must include students name, grade, school and teacher/parent contact information
*Send entries to Lori Forrester

Contest Flyer

Allatoona Lake Cleanup
When: September 30th
click here for registration information

Etowah River  Cleanup
When: October 14th 9 am- 1pm
Where: UERA office – 180 McClure St. Canton, GA 30114
Gloves and trash bags will be provided. Breakfast & Lunch available. Free t-shirts while supplies last.

Ball Ground Creek Cleanup
When: October 14th 11 am – 2 pm
Where: Ball Ground City Hall – 215 Valley St. Ball Ground, GA 30107.
Gloves and trash bags will be provided. Lunch available. Free T-shirts whild supplies last.

Little River Cleanup
When: October 21st 9 am 1 pm
Where: Olde Rope Mill Park – 690 Olde Rope Mill Rd. Woodstock, GA 30188.
Gloves and trash bags will be provided. Breakfast & Lunch available. Free T-shirts whild supplies last.

Education Updates

Library Programs: 

In June and July we presented three programs with the Sequoyah Regional Library System. We presented the “Our Water Story” Puppet Show, a new program about toilets “Flush” and was a presenter for Community Helpers Day.

Library Puppet Show
Library Flush
Library Community Helpers

Cherokee Parks and Recreation Fish Camp

In June, CPRA visited the Hollis Q. Lathem Reservoir to enjoy the fishing and learn about water. The students participated in the lesson “Sum of the Parts”, where they developed their plot of land and then we put all the pieces together. We discussed how upstream impacts downstream users.

CPRA Fish Camp

STEM Day – AG Day Programs: 

In May we participated in STEM Day at Clark Creek ES and AG Day at Indian Knoll. 385 kindergarten and first grade students at Clark Creek ES learned about dragonflies and made a dragonfly craft. 150 – 5th graders at Indian Knoll ES students learned about virtual water.

Clark Creek Stem Day
Indian Knoll AG Day
Indian Knoll Virtual Water

Georgia Model Water Tower Competition State Winners

Congratulations to Woodstock Middle School students Jake Cerna, Anthony Lizardo and Divar Marcos Perez for winning Best Engineering Design with their tower “Viva Mexico” at the State level Model Water Tower Competition!

GMWT State Winners

Georgia Adopt-a-Stream

Congratulations to out Adopt-A-Stream group of the year – Lake Sovereign G-2875. They received this honor for the precise and consistent visual, chemical and bacterial monitoring throughout 2021. Check out their data set.

Do you have a body of water that is near and dear to your heart? Maybe a creek in your back yard or a favorite spot to find tranquility from the hustle of the 9-5. If you fall into this category and you would like to take a more active role in the protection of this waterbody, Adopt-A-Stream may be for you.

In water quality testing, there is not a silver bullet kind of test that is all encompassing of water quality. Rather, we rely on a series of test that gives us a look in to the health of a body of water over time. These are “snapshots”, if you will, of what is going on at that particular moment. Over time, we start to see trends develop and when we see an abnormality, it lets us know something is wrong.

Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) has three main types of tests that give us excellent data on the health of the stream and when combined, give us a more comprehensive view of the waterbody.

Chemical Monitoring:
This type of monitoring looks at chemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and temperature to give us a look at the stream’s health on a monthly basis. Certain parameters fluctuate from season to season and it is important to have the data to establish trends. In order for aquatic life to survive, there are certain requirements for basic necessities to be met. Some of these necessities are the same for us. For instance, they all have to have oxygen to survive. Another extremely important parameter is pH. Most aquatic life requires between 6 – 8.5 and even minor changes can be harmful. More advanced testing is also available which includes alkalinity, nitrate, ammonia, and phosphate, if you are interested.

Bacteria Monitoring:
There are millions of varieties of bacteria that exist in nature and they all have a variety of sources and important roles to play in the natural world. The type of bacteria we look at in particular is E. Coli. This type is referred to as an indicator organism because it is a member of bacteria that are only found in the intestines of warm blooded animals. The level of this bacteria will let us know whether we will get sick or not if we or a four legged friend drinks from this body of water. This monitoring is also a monthly test.

Macroinvertebrate Monitoring:
This type of monitoring looks at the diversity and abundance of a macro-invertebrate (organism that lives in the water that can be easily viewed with the naked eye). Since these organisms are not very mobile, they are both easy to catch and provide a good health indicator of the water quality. Each organism has a different level of pollution tolerance before they perish, so a more diverse population of organisms are better than finding an abundance of one species. Monitoring for macro’s is only recommended quarterly since these organisms do not change much from month to month and we don’t want to disturb their ecosystem on a frequent basis.

Any surface water is a constantly moving and changing force of nature and as such there is no presumed safety in it’s consumption. Hopefully, should this program sound worthwhile to you, you can help protect this important natural resource for the generations that come after us.

We offer trainings on the AAS testing methods based on requests; though most of our availability will be Monday- Friday 8-5. Once you become a certified volunteer, we offer equipment loans for a 7-day check out. Please feel free to reach out and ask any questions you may have.

Educational Programs/Resources

Learn about the free environmental education programs and online resources offered to classroom teachers, homeschool groups, and community groups.

CCWSA provides a wide array of programs for Kindergarten through 12th grade. Each activity is matched up with the Georgia Science Standards for each grade. However, all activities can be adjusted to teach younger or older children. In addition, some activities such as the Enviroscape can be used to teach college students and adult groups.

The activities are separated by grade level for the ease of finding what fits best for your needs.

Interested in having us come in to do a program? Contact us. Scheduling early is recommended.

CCWSA is proud to be a Partner in Education with Creekland Middle School.
The Partners in Education program is administered by Cherokee county Chamber of Commerce. The program is about fostering partnerships among business organizations, schools and communities in Cherokee County.

 

Science Basic: Hitting the Mark

Best for 4th grade and up.  The students will distinguish between accuracy and precision, investigate the relationship of accuracy and precision as it relates to water quality data collection, write clear procedures, and recognize the limitations of those procedures. Students work in small groups to create a structure and/or method to make the clay ball hit the target. Then they write the procedure out step by step. The groups then rotate and have to use the other group’s procedure to get the same results. This is a fun hands-on interactive way to teach accuracy and precision!

Informational Articles and Videos

CCWSA provides information through articles and videos about important topics that impact your everyday life.
For more information on these topics and more check out the Clean Water Campaign.

Stormwater Issues

Articles: Pet Waste and Stormwater | Stormwater (leaves in stormdrain), | Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB’s) | Fats, Oils and Grease  (FOG)
Who To Call when you observe a problem

Videos: Fats, Oils and Grease

Informational Posters: Algal Blooms | Pet Waste | Fats, Oils and Grease | Stormwater vs. Wastewater | Did you know? Water Penny

The Rivers Alive clean-ups were a huge success this year! Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority (CCWSA) hosted three Rivers Alive cleanups in October that were focused on Little River, Ball Ground Creek and the Etowah River.

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In total, we had 137 volunteers spend over 400 hours of volunteer time cleaning up approximately 300 bags of trash plus tires, car parts and more. Together we removed approximate 2 tons of trash from our beautiful Cherokee County.

group of helpers edit
3 ladies with bags edit
group with trash bags edit

Thank you to our partners City of Woodstock, City of Holly Springs, City of Canton, City of Ball Ground, Cherokee County Stormwater, Cherokee County School District, Kristin May – Fathom Realty and the Upper Etowah River Alliance. It would not be possible without our incredible partnerships!

Imagine a Day Without Water: October 21, 2021

No water to drink, or wash your hands with. No water to shower, flush the toilet, or do laundry. Hospitals would close without water. Firefighters couldn’t put out fires and farmers couldn’t water their crops. Disease would spread.

This year, we want to help you learn more about where your water comes from and where your water goes. We’ll take a deeper dive into the impact drinking water and wastewater providers have within your community. Many Americans take water for granted every day. But what would a day be like without water? Imagine a Day Without Water 2021 will be the seventh annual day to raise awareness and educate America about the value of water.

CCWSA is sponsoring a essay contest for 6-12th grade students in Cherokee County. Entry Deadline Extended – November 12, 2021

Student information –
Our country continues to face an enormous health crisis from the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout the pandemic water and wastewater systems keeps the water flowing in homes, hospitals and essential businesses. The crisis continues to demonstrate the critical role that water and wastewater systems play in their communities, protecting public health, safeguarding the environment and making a healthy economy possible.

  • What would your day be like if you couldn’t turn on the tap and get clean drinking water?
  • What would happen if you flushed the toilet and the wastewater didn’t go anywhere?
  • What would happen if restaurants, hospitals, firefighters, farms or hundreds of industries that depend on water ran out of water?

The essay should answer one or more of these questions. We encourage you to get creative with your essay! Grammar and spelling will be taken into account during judging. Make sure to cite all outside information. Check out Value of Water videos for inspiration.

Essay must be a minimum of 250 words and no more than 600 words.
Entries must include Student’s Name, Grade, School and Parent Contact information.
Email Entries To Us

Drinking Water Week

Thank you to everyone that attended the Drinking Water Week events and students that participated in the coloring contest. Coloring contest winners announced.

Thank you for everyone that came out to see us at our Drinking Water Week community events in Hickory Flat, Waleska and Ballground. In total, we had the pleasure to interact with more than 60 community members. The coloring contest was a great success with close to 1000 entries!

Meet the Winners!

Kindergarden: Avery Clanton | Johnston ES

1st grade: Mauvick Carlson | Arnold Mill ES

2nd grade: Rylee Morris | Clayton ES

3rd grade and Grand Prize: Riley Turner | RM Moore ES

2nd grade Honorable Mention: Felicia Untung | Johnston ES

3rd grade Honorable Mention: Grace Hanner | Ballground – Homeschool

Science & Engineering Fair

Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority (CCWSA) recognized Cherokee County students in the 2021 NWGA Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Due to the pandemic, the judging was virtual this year. Three E.T. Booth middle school students were recognized for excellence in their projects that focused on the environmental field.

The three projects recognized for excellence were: Anna Tyner with her project “Nanotech Oil Spill Clean Up”, Adriel Ontibon with his project “Do Sound Waves Affect Plant Growth?” and Aahana Karanji with her project “Raspberry Pi Water System.”

The students accepted their awards at a small awards ceremony held at E.T. Booth MS on February 12th, 2021. They received a certificate, a goodie bag, and a gift card.

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