In an effort to bring awareness to issues affecting local rivers, the New Echota Rivers Alliance (NERA) will host a Georgia Adopt-A-Stream workshop.

“We really would like to see local citizens get involved in protecting our local streams and riv-ers,” said David Harrison, NERA board member.

The Adopt-A-Stream workshop came after NERA received a $5,000 grant from Paddle Georgia 2009. Paddle Georgia was a weeklong, 92-mile trip down the rivers of Georgia including Coosawattee and Oostanaula rivers earlier this year.

“We decided to use these funds to purchase water monitoring kits,” Harrison said.

The workshop will teach local residents how to use the hand-held kits, which measure dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, and water temperature. Some of these kits may include alkalinity, nitrate-nitrogen and phosphate testing.

“These program are important, because they help provide better water quality by monitoring and pin pointing problems,” Harrison said.

There are 11 creeks in Gordon County that are considered “impaired” by Georgia’s Environ-mental Protection Division. The impaired status means these bodies of water do not meet minimum EPD water quality standards.

These bodies of water include creeks such as Salacoa, Oothcalooga, Snake and Pine Log, as well as the Coosawattee, Conasauga and Oostanaula rivers

“Water is important. These rivers are important. And it is important to make sure these rivers stay as clean and healthy as possible,” Harrison said.

Currently, NERA volunteers monitor five sites along the Conasauga, Coosawattee and Oostanaula rivers, and their tributaries.

The workshop will be taught by Coosa River Basin Initiative Program Coordinator David Promis, a certified Adopt-A-Stream trainer. The event will be held at the UGA Cooperative Extension Office on McDaniel Station Road on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch will be provided.