SHORELINES

Testing t he wat e r s Volunteers on Al abama Power l akes donate time to assure good conditions for everyone On a steamy end-of-summer day, new findings? In all, the reliable testers the ultimate science experiment is report air and water temperature, pH, underway on Lake Jordan and Lake alkalinity, hardness, turbidity/water Mitchell. All to ensure the health of clarity and dissolved oxygen. These volunteer water monitors, the water. Volunteer Ann Hill plops onto her stomach and extends her hand over the residents on Alabama Power lakes, tote official black testing kits — filled with dock into Lake Jordan to collect just enough water for a pH test. Will the results be stable or skewed? Judy May "Cherishing your l ake is not wades into another area, lowering her just looking from the porch. arms elbow-deep to fill up vials for an Love is an active verb. You oxygen check. Will the levels be healthy or wanting? On down the lake, Don Dudley treats his own samples with chemicals before tucking the Petri cherish by doing something." —Patsy Widem an, a water monitor on L ake Mitchell dishes into his homemade incubator. Will they show clean water or any bottles of chemicals, sterile droppers, dreaded E.coli? glass vials and more — to designated On neighboring Lake Mitchell, spots once a month. The process takes Patsy Wideman and Rebecca Beaty about an hour once they get the hang prepare to conduct their multi-step of it, and each monitor is as serious water regimen for their 99th and 101st and dedicated as a white-coat scientist. months, respectively. Will there be But these are hardly scientists. Right: Photo by Wynter Byrd — Volunteer Don Dudley fills test tubes at Lake Jordan. 8 S hor el i ne s | 2013 Vol:3

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