Characterizing Water Pollution through Community Partnerships
This project was sponsored by the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation.
Located in central coastal Georgia, Glynn County contains the beach communities of Jekyll Island, Saint Simons Island, and Sea Island, along with the county seat of the City of Brunswick. Glynn County is also the home to four Superfund sites – Hercules 009 Landfill, Hercules Terry Creek Outfall, LCP Chemicals, and Brunswick Wood Preserving. County Commissioner Allen Booker (Fifth District) approached the IWH with a problem: Since the Coronavirus pandemic started in 2020, he had found that many more people in his district were subsistence fishing in Terry Creek, a water body known to have high levels of pollution. Although there are fishing advisories and monitoring has been done by the EPA and Hercules, many warnings are ignored.
There are many reasons for people choosing to continue fishing at Terry Creek. Generational, geographic, cultural, and income factors can be very powerful, especially if the anglers are not prioritized in the science communication plan.
This research project facilitated the creation of a community water quality data collection and communication team. The Safe Water Ambassador Group, or SWAG, worked to collect water quality data in the areas where people fish, communicate their results with the people to become an example for community/academia partnership.
Important Considerations
Water
- Co-selection of sites important for science and the community
- Monitoring using established EPA-approved protocols
- Georgia Adopt-A-Stream database
- Advanced IDEXX bacterial lab used for water quality measurements
Public Health
- Targeted sites based on proximity to Superfund sites and usage as fishing/crabbing locations
- Group of participants well-versed in health hazards – several participated in previous research
Environmental Justice
- Bacterial analysis lab is owned by the community
- Participants are paid, not just volunteers
- Bridging the gap between data collectors and the community most affected by hazardous conditions
- Steps towards better policies, improved scientific literacy, and investment in community advancement
Last updated: 2/9/2025