Identify the Health of Your Stream

Cobb County streams, ponds and rivers are home to numerous critters, including macroinvertebrates.

Macroinvertebrates are small animals without backbones, large enough to be seen without a microscope, including aquatic insects, crustaceans, worms and mollusks. They play a vital role in the health and quality of streams.

Macroinvertebrates are classified based on how sensitive they are to pollution. Pollution reduces how much oxygen is available in water. They are also exposed to all kinds of stream conditions from drought to floods. Identifying and counting the variety of macroinvertebrates in streams, helps assess water quality and habitat.

The Cobb County Water System invites residents to take a closer look at the macroinvertebrates living in their streams. There will be an Adopt-A-Stream Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Workshop from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the Cobb County Water Quality Lab, 662 South Cobb Drive in Marietta.

Participants will learn Macroinvertebrate identification, collection techniques for rocky & muddy bottom streams and assess the health of a stream.

Volunteers who wish to test their skills must visit a stream and must pass a quality assurance test at the end of the workshop. The QA/QC volunteer status is good for one year for participants who can identify macroinvertebrates with 90% accuracy and pass the written test with a score of 80% or higher.

The Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Workshop is part of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream volunteer water quality monitoring program. Volunteers are certified each year to monitor and submit data that can be used for trend analysis of water quality data for changes over time, public education and identifying potential sewer spills and illicit discharges.

Register for the Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Workshop at www.cobbwater.org/events . To learn more about Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, visit adoptastream.georgia.gov .