Water Quality: Non-governmental Organizations

US PIRG http://www.pirg.org/reports/enviro/poison/index.html
Abstract: This area of PIRG’s national site documents the pollution of America’s waterways. It provides a toxic release inventory, discussions on specific violations of the Clean Water Act, how and why existing laws fail to halt water pollution, as well as various appendicies which contain toxic discharges to water on a county-by-county basis, major facilities in serious violation of the Clean Water Act, state-specific discharge and compliance data and other water pollution data.

Land Margin Ecosystem Research (LMER) http://wiegert.marsci.uga.edu/
Abstract: This site presents the on-going results of a collaborative project that examines the interactions between Georgia’s coastal wetlands and rivers and their adjacent oceanic ecosystems. Cooperating partners include scientists at University of Georgia’s School of Marine Programs, Marine Institute on Sapelo Island and Insitute of Ecology, and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. This site has extensive scientific databases on Georgia rivers including information on secondary bacterial production, dissolved organic carbon, dom flourescence, microbial respiratory rates and GIS imagery. Also featured are land-use and land-cover maps of all five of Georgia’s coastal river watersheds. This site, while not for the lay reader, offers extensive scientific data that is essential for scientists looking at eocsytem interactions.

Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/lter/
This site presents the research of a long-term research project that examines the role of water transport in the ecological linkages between Georgia’s upland areas and coastal zone. Collaborating scientists use a multi-disciplinary approach including environmental monitoring, mathmatical modeling, direct experimentation and GIS analysis to study the various ways in which surface and ground water facilitate these linkages. Among other things, this research examines the influence of river flow and groundwater discharge variablility on: transport and exchange processes in tidal creeks, salt marshes and the surficial aquifer; sediment and groundwater nutrient dynamics; salt-marsh production and trophic structure; bacterial and fungal diversity and productivity; and invertebrate population dynamics. Datasets are available to the public and may be downloaded. This site is very technical – not for the lay reader – but for the research scientist it contains much useful data. The site will continue to be developed as the research progresses.

University of Georgia Marine Institute Monitoring Program
http://www.uga.edu/ugami/monitoring%20web%20page/monitoring
This site will be of interest to scientists seeking hydrological and meteorological data and graphs for Georgia’s coastal zone. Data on this web page is representative of the Marine Institute’s larger archives, and the site is equipped to accept specific data requests for material not listed here. Hydrological data has been collected since 1986, and meteorological data has been collected since 1964. This material is highly scientific and not suitable for lay readers, however it provides an excellent baseline of hydrological and meteorological data for scientists interested in pursuing studies in either area.

American Water Works Association (AWWA) http://www.awwa.org/
An international non-profit scientific and educational society, AWWA is dedicated to improving drinking water quality and supply. It claims to be “the largest organization of water supply professionals in the world.” Its membership of over 50,000 includes scientists and environmentalists, manufacturers, academicians, regulators and water-treatment operators and managers. The site is organized topically around various aspects of drinking water and includes numerous white papers (e.g., lead in drinking water; source water protection; chlorine for disinfecting drinking water etc), and policy statements (e.g., management of groundwater; water treatment; protecting resevoirs; flouridation etc). It also investigates various legislative aspects of drinking water quality and controls and presents a calendar of various water quality symposia. Links to many of the sites included in this lists of abstracts are provided.

Wetlands and Clean Water Homepage (Sierra Club)
http://www.sierraclub.org/wetlands/
This site, part of the Sierra Club’s main webpage, deals with issues and regulations surrounding wetlands and clean water by following legislation and scientific developments that impact them directly. Current news items, fact sheets, newspaper articles, reports and Sierra Club position papers are available here. This site is useful to the lay reader or to someone seeking to follow an issue’s “paper trail.”

NEMO Homepage (Non-point Education for Municipal Officials)
http://www.nemo.uconn.edu/
The following statement appears on each page of this website reminding readers of NEMO’s purpose as: “an educational program for local land use officials that addresses the relationship of land use to natural resource protection.” During 1991-92, NEMO began as a collaborative pilot project to address non-point pollution in three small CT. tcoastal towns. Collaborators included the University of Connecticut, Cooperative Extension Service, Connecticut Sea Grant and the State’s Natural Resource Management Department. Since that time it has evolved into a highly successful training program. Their new website is much improved and provides a wealth of information about NEMO’s educational materials, workshops and training. It also describes local projects and how to identify and educate local officials about how land use affects water quality.This is an excellent site if you have an interest in environmental activism or policy-making. Be sure to check out their “Supernumerary Policy Panel…”