News

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop visited North Carolina State University this week to present Sound Rivers’ work at the Center for Human Health and the Environment’s 10th-annual Research Symposium.

Courtesy of a CHHE grant, Samantha and Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register teamed up with Lenoir Community College students for a yearlong program of educating and sampling on Adkin Branch in Kinston.

“I talked about our water quality sampling and what we found, along with our water quality lessons with Lenoir Community College students and our cleanouts of the trash trap,” Samantha said.  “Over the course of the year, we got a helpful baseline of information to use as leverage for the North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant we just applied for to do more work on the creek.”

More work, she said, because water-quality testing revealed a significant source of bacteria in the creek. Further DNA testing pointed to the source as human, indicating a sewage issue.

“Over the year, we got to talk to a lot of people who use the creek, community members who fish and wade in the creek and walk the trails around it,” Samantha said. “That interaction hammered home the need for more investment in water-quality improvements in Adkin Branch.”

Samantha, a member of the CHHE community advisory board, also participated in panel discussion about community science research at the daylong symposium.

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