Clean Water Main Water Sentinels Main Arizona Illinois Kentucky -- Northern Kentucky -- Western Michigan Missouri Ohio Tennessee Contacts Environmental news, green living tips, and ways to take action: Subscribe to the Sierra Club Insider! About the organizer Dr. Lee A. Dew Cumberland Chapter 2015 Griffith Place East Owensboro, KY 42301 (270) 685-2034 fax (270) 691-0709 aloma.dew@sierraclub.org

Western Kentucky Coal mining, farming, chicken waste threaten health of Western Kentucky waterways If the watersheds in Western Kentucky aren't being slammed with pollution and sediment from coal mining and farming, they're being exploited by the recent proliferation of corporate chicken factories and slaughterhouses. The Western Kentucky Water Sentinels conduct extensive biological and chemical water-quality monitoring in the Tradewater and Lower Green River Basins. The two watersheds encompass all or part of 18 counties - some 6,000 square miles - roughly the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. Overlying the West Kentucky Coalfield, the intensively farmed region has also been extensively strip-mined. Working cooperatively, volunteers with the Sentinels and the Tradewater/Lower Green River Watershed Watch (TGWW) conduct three annual major sampling events at more than 80 monitoring sites throughout the basins, testing for fecal coliform bacteria, nutrients, herbicides and pesticides. Volunteers also monitor stream health by conducting an inventory of other physical characteristics, from assessing the water's capacity to carry oxygen, to documenting the aquatic insects that live under the streams' rocks and sediment. TGWW and the Sentinels use the collected data to identify exceptional streams that do not have proper state protection, and polluted streams that may not be included on the state's impaired waters list. The data are also used to target additional focused sampling on streams with identified problems. All test results are posted on the Kentucky Division of Water's website. In a nutshell Sierra Club in Kentucky Factory farming Kentucky Tour de Stench Clean Water Act 30th anniversary There are lots of ways to help Kentucky Sentinels! Whether you're interested in collecting water samples or finding another way to lend a hand, please contact us soon! You can make a difference for Western Kentucky's waterways. Photo: These sprawling warehouses are packed beak-to-beak with chickens. Photos by Aloma Dew. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use