Final Leg of this Study

I have finally completed filling out all of the data on every individuals water quality reports. I have addressed and sealed all of the envelopes. This took forever. Filling out each of the things that JJ tested for was the most time consuming part of this process. I was diligent in making sure I had the correct numbers in all of the appropriate boxes and made sure that all of the data was correct depending on whether the individual had well water or county water.

For the final aspect of this project I will be writing a paper summarizing the total project, what I contributed to this project(water sample and data collection, preparation of the proposal to the EPA)and the community built and effected by this study.

I have gained so much insight into social injustices, environmental degradations, and what I want to do when I "grow up."

Thank you for following this blog and my journey through Hale County and beyond.

Justinn

Mailing Water Quality Reports

 “Water Quality and Health in Alabama’s Black Belt”

Water Quality Report

Dear Customer Name,

As promised, in return for you participation in our study, The University of Alabama in conjunction with Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization (HERO) is pleased to present you with this water quality report.

Contact:

If you have any questions about this water quality report please contact:

Jessica J. Cook (JJ), University of Alabama Ph.D. student, at 205-499-0458, or jjcook@crimson.ua.edu

Joe Brown, University of Alabama professor, at 205-348-0418, or joebrown@bama.ua.edu

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Jessica J. Cook

Ph.D. Student Biological Sciences

Your Water Quality Results:

 

Indicator	Your Sample Results	Recommended Value	Meets EPA Recommended Value
Thermo-tolerant coliforms Bacteria		Zero in 100 ml sample	Y/N
Free Chlorine Residual		Detectable level of free chlorine (>0.1 mg/l)  at the household tap (applicable only for those customers on the water supply system (not well)	Y/N
pH		Normal pH between 6.5-8.5	Y/N
Turbidity		1 NTU	Y/N

 

PLEASE NOTE.  These data are based on one drinking water sample only and may not be indicative of your drinking water quality over long term periods.  We do recommend treating water by boiling if your drinking water sample tested positive for thermotolerant coliform bacteria, as this may indicate contamination.    To treat water by boiling, bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before consumption.   Note that many commercially available water filters (for example, Brita) may not be designed to remove bacteria or other waterborne microbes potentially present in water.  

*****************************************************************************************************************

Above is the final water quality report that will be sent out to all of the residents of Hale County. For the past week I have been battling my printer to print out all of the labels for each of the residents that JJ/I collected samples from. As a "child of technology," I am afraid to say that I missed the majority of computer class. I had completely forgotten how to print an address directly onto an envelope. After a day of wasting envelopes and printing on them over and over again, I decided that labels were the way to go. I went to Office Depot and bought some Avery white blank labels and use an online software and have been knocking these addresses out. 

Some of the addresses on the excel spreadsheet JJ sent to me did not have names, so I typed "Current Resident" as the name. About 25 of the individuals that we collected water samples from did not have addresses. I used YellowPages.com to find those individuals addresses; if they did not have their address listed in the Yellow Pages I gave the individual a quick phone call. Each of these individuals I spoke with on the phone were very apprehensive about giving me their mailing address. On the first couple of phone calls I told people I was with The University of Alabama and they were confused. I decided after the first couple people to start by introducing myself and saying I am working with HERO. I figured everyone in Hale County has some sort of fimiliarity with HERO. 

I picked up the New College/University of Alabama official letterhead and hope to start filling in the data portion and customer name for each of the participants in this study. Hopefully, I won't have as many problems printing the actual report as I did printing on the envelopes. I believe we are going to send out the water quality report through the University. I am not really sure how that will work logistically, I will have to ask Margaret in the New College office.

I spoke with Dr. Brown today and he wants me to conclude this project with a paper that explains what I did in this study (participating in water sample and data collection, preparation and distribution of water quality reports, data collection for the EPA proposal) and outline how this study contributed to my learning and the people of Hale County.

For the rest of the week and over the weekend, I hope to complete filling out and printing the water quality reports.

Justinn

Formulating Water Quality Reports

Over the past week and a half JJ has asked me to research what a water quality report looks like. I looked at various water quality reports from New York City, Tuscaloosa, and various ones from the EPA's website. 

Every water quality report had these basic components:

Title

Goal of report/what was being tested

Outline where water came from

How the water is treated

Table of contamination and Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) 

Definitions for words that readers may not be interested in

Planning/Improvement

Contact Us

I sent JJ a water quality report with each of these topics. JJ suggested that I add more flow and explain more about the logistics and contamination testing of this study. JJ asked me to explain the MCL and health problems associated with the problems this water quality report tested for: turbidity, pH, residual chlorine, and thermo tolerant coliforms. She suggested that I add an explanation about each of these problems and give directions to the participant of how best to fix them. 

I am having difficulty finding an explanation of residual chlorine that will help me understand its importance in regards to environmental/public health. I sent JJ my most recent copy of the water quality report and I haven't heard back from her yet. I hope it is all right, it was much more difficult to create a water quality assessment from scratch. I have definitely grown an appreciation for those who create these professional, easily understood, and relatively short documents. 

I emailed Sue and Margaret in the New College office to try to find a quote for using the New College letterhead, envelope, and stamps. Margaret informed me that I should have the post office weigh the final water quality assessment to have a more accurate postal stamp fee for all 300 reports. Margaret also told me that they buy New College letterhead in bulk, so it would be difficult to estimate how much it would cost to print each report. 

Since school started I haven't heard much from JJ, and I am very anxious to help her finalize and send out each of these water quality reports to the residents we collected samples from in Hale County. 

Justinn

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/ecoli.html

Continued Research/Update

For the past couple of weeks I have been sending JJ the articles she requested using the keywords on the previous post. I found a good number of articles on a new database I found about all things sustainable a "green" called GreenFILE. It was very easy to find new and interesting articles on this database. I found some articles about well contamination and various gastrointestinal problems associated with rural water. 

JJ seemed excited about some of the articles; not all of them applied directly to the research but provided good background research or methods that could be useful for her research. 

I helped JJ complete a Water Systems Table. In this table I called various water departments throughout Wilcox and Sumter County. I asked the appropriate person (usually the individuals who the phone didn't know the answers to the questions I asked)if the water was public or privately owned. Then I asked what the connection fee is (not including the meter cost) and the basic rate/overcharge for water. The final question asked them to estimate how many people were not connected to water in their area... most people had no idea. 

The people I spoke with were genuinely rude. They were impatient and seemed annoyed. On this table JJ filled in the blank if the water department had ground or surface water and if they had surface water I had to ask a couple extra questions:

1.  If the water system uses surface water (you can get this info from the table), then ask where the water is coming from, what is the source?  

2.  If the water system uses purchased surface water, where do they purchase it from?

I had no idea the way water was charged to individuals. I didn't realize there was a rate for 2000 gallons (usually) and then an overcharge rate per 1000 gallons used. 

I am waiting for a phone call this morning to see how I can help her today. It's hard to believe there has been a death and a birth in my family within two weeks, thus I have been in Birmingham a lot. JJ mentioned sending out the water quality reports to the 300 residents as part of my next task. 

I am looking forward to being back in Tuscaloosa post finals, birth, death, and ready to help here. 

-Justinn

Water Quality Work-Research

I met with JJ last week and she discussed her plans and expectations for me over the next week.

I will be working on a Lit. Review of the following topics:

• rural water systems
• U.S., Alabama
• Black Belt 
• problems associated with the water system
• efficient water systems
• Selma chalk formation (layer in Black Belt, keeps ground from perking, keeps well shallow/sanitation issues, where it is located in areas of groundwater and sanitation)
• data on failure of water systems 
• public health impacts

She explained the main goal of this project/lit review is to quantify impact of people's health as a result of water. 

I asked JJ about how the money will be awarded for the proposal and she explained this proposal will force legislation to fix the infrastructure problems. Essentially, this research will supply the EPA with the knowledge that something is wrong rural water quality and needs attention. 

____

This past week my grandfather's health was extremely bad so I went home each day. My grandfather passed away on Thursday and everything has stood still. I have sent JJ a couple articles but not enough... I plan to send more later today.

Best,

Justinn

Last of the Samples Processed

An example of a run sample without bacterial growth

Incubate at 112 degrees

Samples inside Petri Dishes

Filtration Apparatus 

Some of the bottles used for the study

This week I met JJ in the lab in the mornings to help her run the last of the water samples. She needs each water sample run through the filtration apparatus, the pH, the total chlorine, and the free chlorine. 

Once the water had been run through the filtration system and all of the tests are completed we placed the petri dishes in an incubator for 18 hours at 112 degrees to encourage the growth of thermo-tolerant coliforms.

Tuesday: I cleaned some petri dishes and checked the pH, free/total chlorine

Wednesday: Continued checking pH, free/total chlorine 

Thursday: Continued checking pH, free/total chlorine and that afternoon I placed the petri dishes into the incubator for 18 hours.

This morning- I went to the lab and removed the petri dishes from the incubator and went through each sample to check for pink or yellow spots of bacteria growth. The presence of pink bacterial growth shows a great presence of iron in the water. The presence of yellow bacterial growth shows a presence of thermo-tolerant coliforms. 

I am also supplementing this work in the lab by reading a presentation that JJ sent me outlining the details of the biology/infrastructure of Hale County and I am slowly but surely working through the large packet outlining what is needed for the proposal.

I will continue reading through this packet this weekend and write again soon. 

Justinn

Beginning of Water Quality Independent Study (NEW 312)

During this independent study I will be assisting JJ Cook, a University of Alabama Ph.D. student in conducting and analyzing water samples from individuals throughout Hale County. Once 300 samples have been collected and analyzed, I will be working on the narrative aspects of this EPA proposal/grant. I will assist JJ in the lab with the last of the water samples and organize this data into purposes that fit into the specifications of the EPA grant/proposal.  I will explore the broader significance of this water quality test in regards to infrastructurE problems in the United States and throughout the world. Along with the lab work and proposal, I will be keeping a narrative description of this independent study by updating my blog weekly with pictures of what I am doing and what I am getting out of this work. 

This past week JJ and I collected 16 samples a day of water from the northern part of Hale County (near Moundville). Once we collected all of these samples we spent Friday morning in the lab. JJ briefly showed me how she tested the water for bacteria. She showed me a couple samples that we collected last week that were full of bacteria. We discussed the logistics of how I am going to help her in this project. I am really looking forward to every aspect of this project. 

I am going to meet JJ tomorrow morning at the lab at 8 AM. I will take some pictures and upload them soon.

Justinn

Week Six/Conclusion

Seedlings 

Progress of raised beds and tomatoes

Sunken Beds Progress

Monday's Harvest

This week was a little bit slow. I worked on adding mulch to the tomato bed to further suppress the growth of weeds. This week I continued to tend to the garden by weeding, watering, harvesting, and planting (eg. marigolds). 

I continued to work with the kids until 10 AM and then go with JJ to help with the water quality work. 

In short, this week was the same as the last.

CONCLUSION:

This experience exposed me to many different types of people (ex. M students/graphic design, architecture students, HERO staff). My exposure to the inconsistencies in the water quality and living conditions of the individuals of Hale County helped me realize I want to work on environmental social justice issues in the future. 

Working in Greensboro has shown me I do want to work in a city rather than rural Alabama. 

I learned about the importance of the professional relationships between people in work settings... and how that relationship reflects on every one's job performance. 

My experience in the garden was exceptional. It was very cool seeing the seeds grow to these large plants bearing vegetables within the five weeks I was there. It was a cool experience digging the sunken beds (although it was hot as hell) and learning various things from Pam, Lydia, and the gardeners around town. 

I am really glad I was given the opportunity to intern at HERO. It's hard to believe that the people of Hale County and the surrounding Black Belt counties are so impoverished and lacking in resources. I hope to help individuals similar to HERO in the future. 

Week Five

Kid helping with planting tomatoes

A

Ajah and LaDarius helping plant in the raised beds

Volunteers from Maine, Gordon and Jay, helped the garden

The first kids of the week, Ajah and LaDarius

This past week began the morning time sessions with the kids from the local daycare center (located right behind the HERO campus). At first there were only two kids who had gotten their permission forms signed and it was a breeze. Lydia and I try to focus on educating the children about why vegetables/fruits are important and why gardens are so cool.

The kids are very enthusiastic about their time in the garden. We have six or seven kids each day. We have split them up into two smaller groups, having that many kids ranging in age from four to seven... it is difficult. 

Lydia plans what the children are going to do each day and I do my best to help her along. Many times we split the smaller groups up once more and have them doing separate tasks (i.e. planting small flowers, helping plant seeds, discussing what a compost pile is). Many times I leave before the kids do to join JJ for water quality work.

The compost pile is coming along well. We are still picking up old fruit from a farmer each day and tossing that in the pile. We really need to make a lid for it as well as a sign informing individuals what CAN and CANNOT go into the pile. When I got to the bin this Monday there was dog poop in the pile. Stinky.

Water quality work is still coming along well. I am more and more amazed with the people I am meeting, the situations I find myself in, and the sadness I feel for these people spending their money on crappy water AND buying bottled water. I was told today there is a high number of individuals in Hale County who have cancer and this individual hypothesized that it could be attributed to the additives catfish farmers add to their ponds. I wonder if Joe and JJ have explored this. The farmers don't have to have a lining on their ponds and the chemicals could seep into the groundwater. I will explore this more!

I write a week behind... this week (Week Six) is my last week at HERO. I will write again soon.

Justinn

Week Four

Garden

Dirt (over 1000 lbs)

Finished Raised Beds 

Front Loader picking up cinder blocks

This past week was very busy! We went to the local grocery stores and farmer's markets to ask the managers/farmers if they were willing to give us their pre-consumer waste (i.e. old vegetables/fruits) for the compost bin. We also drove around the town of Greensboro collecting leaves and twigs that can also be added to our compost bin.

This week we all continued to clean up the pavilion. Lydia, Spence, and I sought out a gentleman named John who allowed us to use his front loading tractor to load up the cinder blocks around the site and Pam's dad took it in his dump truck to a local site. This was an entertaining day indeed! 

Rennie completed the second raised bed this past week. Lydia and I helped screw the cedar boards into the second raised bed. I look forward to planting vegetables into the beds! 

I was amazed at how much the vegetables grew while I was away. Lydia added lime to the larger sunken bed. The tomato bed is still looking a bit rough... we added lime today. 

Funny little side note... Lydia and I knocked on a random house and a little boy answered. I asked him for some water and he proceeds to RUN three trailers down and scream to his mom... "Mommah!!! Mommah!!! White girls want our water." She screams, "WHAT?!?! What you mean boy?" It was funny. Maybe you had to be there.

I will write more about the current week soon. There is lots to tell!

Justinn

Week Three

Rennie

Raised Bed built by Rennie

What is left of the pavilion

Tomato Plant

Tomato Bed (Big Boys, Cherry, and more)

First Banana Pepper

Crooked Neck Squash

This past week has been very productive. We finished taking down the pavilion and pulling out nails and screws from the boards. This was a very time consuming process to say the least. As Rennie was building the raised bed (see the picture above) I continued to tend to the garden. This week I turned up the tomato bed and planted ten plants (three different varieties). I am worried that the tomatoes will not do very well. They are in mediocre soil (mostly clay) and in constant sunlight. When I left today they were looking pretty sorry. 

I am glad Lydia is there now because she is offering lots of advice to help the vegetables become more prosperous and healthy. She got some hay and was placing it around each of the plants when I left today to help the plants keep their moisture. I hate that we could not till up the sunken beds because there is already grass growing amongst the plants. I am still finding bricks and bits of broken glass throughout the beds. 

We have not built a compost bin yet but it is in the works. The guys in the pie lab have been saving their coffee grains and we have a large pile of grass clippings and scraps of vegetables for the bin. Lydia suggested we have a vermicomposting bin and I completely agree... partially because that is something I actually know about and I know it yields compost quickly.

I have the next week off so I won't post for a while. 

Justinn

Water Quality Work

Pie Lab Entrance

Pie Lab Pies

OPEN FOR PIE

PIE!

Today began the first day of my work with JJ collecting samples from houses within Hale County. The name of the study is "Water Quality and Health in Alabama's Black Belt."

Here is some basic background information (provided by JJ):

+ Study of household drinking water quality in Hale County. Decaying infrastructure in rural areas of the county results in serious degradation of water quality as delivered by public and private water systems. 

+ According to a 2005 community service conducted by HERO, 990 households (24% of the total) in rural areas of Hale County did not have domestic water service. Where households are connected to the system, high costs of water (2 to 3 times the national average) and leak-prone domestic pipes often lead to expensive bills. 

The collection of these water samples (gathered Monday-Wednesday) are tested by JJ in the lab and the participants will receive a free water quality report (with . The participants are asked questions about their water quality, demographics, and costs as through a brief survey.The results will help determine if there are possible correlations between human health and water quality. 

Here is WHAT I did today:

JJ told me there are 5 highways that enter Greensboro. We took one of these highways and knocked on clusters of houses to ask for a water sample from their tap or spicket and to answer a couple questions. 

The questions that are asked:

+ Are you connected to county water? Or do you use well water?

+ How long have you been connected? How much did it cost?

+ Do you have any problems with your county water (eg. discoloration, odor, taste, outages, etc)?

+ How much is your monthly water bill?

+ Do you have a septic system?

+ Do you filter your water?

+ How do you rate your drinking water?

The individuals filled a small Nalgene bottle with a corresponding number and survey and I handed them the bottle with a SMILE.

The majority of the individuals who ACTUALLY answered their door were very uneasy about us and what we were doing. As a result I felt pretty uncomfortable because the individuals we spoke to for the most part were uncomfortable. JJ explained to me never to push anyone and to follow the body language and flow of each individual.

Some of these individuals did not even give JJ the time to explain the purpose of our random visit and were on the defensive or chose not to answer the door. Many individuals were not home (it was 1 PM) and the individuals that were home were of the low socio-economic scale and largely African American. It is crazy how much of a difference there is between the houses and the inhabitants of Greensboro I saw over just today. 

I really liked the change of scenery and discussing the importance and social/environmental injustices associated with the water across the Black Belt with JJ today. I am looking forward to learning more...

Justinn

Week Two

Garden

Basil Plants

Tomato Plants

More Pavilion Shots

I stacked all of that. 

This week flew by in comparison to the first week. I am very excited that we managed to get zucchini, squash, and a couple varieties of sweet and hot peppers in the ground this past week. 

The plants are all looking a bit shabby now and really need to get into the ground as soon as possible. It is difficult finding the time in the day to work on the garden and continue to deconstruct the pavilion. This past week I have become very accustom to having a hammer in my hand and pounding out nails for hours. 

Rennie is much better with a crow bar than I am so we have a bit of a system down thus far. There is still much to be done with the deconstruction because there are concrete blocks holding up the remaining lumber and underneath that there is a good amount of gravel and trash that will need to be cleaned up to plant more vegetables soon. I hope I can see all of this happen over my time in Greensboro. 

This experience has truly allowed me to see how fortunate I am to work in the University setting. The University may not always have the environment on its mind but there are enough people and money floating around that I can usually get what is needed and get it quickly... Things aren't like that in Greensboro. Time moves ever so slowly and the things that I take for granted (i.e. planters and hay) are donated or salvaged. This has been a great lesson for me to learn and I am proud that I am having to opportunity to learn it.

Rennie, Ryan, and I went to model for some pictures in a HERO/Rural Studio home that is in Sawyerville on Friday. I have never felt so much compassion and force to stay active in a community before. There were houses we past that I were one room and had a patchwork on screen to allow air in and out of the room. I was mortified that people were living in this condition. I guess I always think of shantytowns in far away places not one hour south of my house. Rennie told me that is what she thinks of when she thinks of Alabama. It's crazy to me that people from across the United States think of Alabama that way. I grew up in this suburb of Birmingham and honestly had no idea what the "real" world is actually like. The thing I kept thinking about was what the education of these kids I saw must be like. I would like to look into that more and perhaps do some volunteer environmental work with the local schools through SGA. 

Anyways...

JJ, the UA PhD student, Lydia, and I are going to work out some sort of schedule next week (Monday-Wednesday) to go test water quality in various places (I am assuming). I am excited to get to help her and learn more about what she is doing down in the Black Belt. 

The Pie Lab opened this week. The guys have sold a good bit of pie... it seems that there are people going in and out constantly. I am glad for them, what they are doing is really cool. There website is www.pielab.org.

I will post when I can again. 

Best,

Justinn

Week One

The Garden

Deconstruction of the Pavilion
Old Building 
Back side of HERO

Plants

My first week at HERO was exhausting but worthwhile. Waking up at 7 AM has been an adjustment but I have learned a great deal about the world thanks to NPR on the way to and from the HERO office. I come home exhausted every day, which is a nice feeling.

On my first day, I was given a grand tour of the HERO campus and the surrounding HERO houses like the Rammed Earth house. I learned there are three main restaurants in town: a pancake house named Flava, Mustang Oil (a gas station + restaurant), and a Mexican restaurant. 

There are many more interns and workers at HERO than I expected. There are five VISTAs (I still don't really know what they do), one girl from Michigan, Rennie, who is also working on the garden, and four boys from Brooklyn working on the Pie Lab. The Pie Lab is located on the HERO campus and these students are working with Project M and HERO to create a delicious way for the residents of Greensboro to discuss crucial town tensions over pie. The guys have done a great job creating an aesthetically pleasing place to eat and work in the community.

The home of the garden rests over a former home/trailer. We began the week by hoeing the area for the sunken beds while watching for old sewage pipes,crumbling bricks, and bits of broken glass. It took all last week to ensure the garden was thoroughly hoed and glass-free. It was unfortunate we could not use a tiller but the local urban cowboy, Johnny Parker, informed us his tractor wasn't getting anywhere near the bricks in that garden. I guess I don't blame him, it was time consuming none the less. 

This garden will provide food to the HERO workers, VISTAs, interns, and I am assuming a small percentage of the Greensboro community. 

We have the following vegetables, flowers, herbs:

• rosemary
• 2 types of basil
• corn
• sunflowers
• arugula
• collard greens
• zucchini
• squash
• 3 types of tomatoes
• 2 types of peas
• hot peppers
• sweet peppers
• and more...

Meanwhile, there is a large pavilion to the left of the sunken beds that needed to be deconstructed. We began to deconstruct the building by removing the metal roof and removing the supporting beams for the roof. Removing each nail and screw from each piece of wood from the supporting beams took ages. Some of these materials will be used to build a community kitchen where the HERO staff and friends can have a place to cook together with the vegetables.

Today, I incorporated a half of a pickup truck bed of manure into the three sunken beds and cultivated the previous dirt and manure together. With the great deal of rain the great state of Alabama has seen lately the beds needed the extra support and the sand I added as well. 

There will be a five-six raised beds behind the sunken beds that have been created thus far that will house the rest of the vegetables. We have not begun building these beds yet, but hope to do so soon... We hope to create the beds out of charred cedar. This will repel insects and avoid unnecessary wood treatment.

Tomorrow, I began my work with JJ, a UA PhD student who is examining water quality in Hale County. I am anxious to learn more about what she is doing...

I will try to add some pictures and the plans for the garden/community kitchen soon... I will update as soon as I can.

-Justinn