Living Green: Making an impact on our waterways

“I love the Waccamaw river and the whole area,“ says Grand Strand resident Archie Biggs.

Archie Biggs’s love for nature and helping the environment is the reason why he is a longtime volunteer for the Waccamaw River.

“I just wanted to contribute to keeping the river as clean and as safe as possible,“ he says.

People in Horry and Georgetown counties rely on the natural resource as part of their drinking water supply and for fishing. But residents of these areas aren’t the only ones who depend on the Waccamaw River.

“The habitat for the floor and fauna, the plant and animal life that depend on it,“ says Waccamaw Riverkeeper Christine Ellis.

Which is why water sampling of the Waccamaw River is essential to our area. About forty volunteers test the water quality at twelve sites up and down the river on Wednesdays twice a month.

“Rain or shine, year round, cold, hot, whatever, they are always out here,“ says Christine Ellis.

Volunteers take water samples and measure a variety of different parameters like dissolved oxygen, nutrients like nitrates and ammonia, and most importantly, bacteria like e-coli. They also examine the P-H level and the conductivity of the river.

“We have a few little excursions that we need to investigate, otherwise the water quality is quite good,“ says Christine Ellis.

However, there is a threat for pollution of the river… storm water runoff.

“It rushes across the landscape and carries with it pollutants like oils and greases, metals and other contaminants,“ says Christine Ellis.

By keeping track of the water quality in a database, volunteers can recognize trends in the data, and hopefully find a solution to some of the potential problems.

“People should be involved in protecting their environment because it’s theirs, our,“ says volunteer Archie Biggs.

For more information on how to become a volunteer, contact the Waccamaw Riverkeeper at http://www.winyahrivers.org/.