The Maury River Alliance consists of faculty and students at educational institutions including Washington and Lee University (W&L), the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), local High Schools, the Rockbridge County Planning Department, the Rockbridge Area County Conservation Council, Virginia Isaac Walton League-Save Our Streams monitoring program, and the Virginia Canals and Navigation Society.
Goals:
The goal of this project is to initiate citizen-led, water quality studies that will explore the connection between land use and water quality in the Maury River watershed.
Mission
Statement:
The Maury River Alliance is a coalition of organizations dedicated to
creating a public awareness of the significance of the Maury River
watershed as a principal natural resource of Rockbridge County, and
creating a rational program for the long-term management and development
of this resource at the local level. It is an organization dependent
upon volunteer-based action and involvement.
History in Brief:
Since the inception of the program in June 2000, with 15 volunteers and 7 sites on the Maury, the MRA has grown to the scale of 42 volunteers with a total of 22 sites, (the 7 original sites on the Maury River, 11 on Woods Creek, 2 on Sarah's Run, and 1 each on Kerr's Creek, Buffalo Creek, Hays Creek and South River). We have established field and laboratory protocol, built a Board of Directors, have a growing database, and have developed a website. The weekly sampling includes a qualitative surface water assessment, and the measurement of pH, temperature, conductivity and dissolved oxygen. Laboratory analyses include anions (chloride, phosphate, nitrate), cations (ammonium, magnesium, calcium, sodium), bacteria cultures for fecal and total coliform, and trace and transition metals.