Glynn County
Safe Water Together Glynn County Program Installs New Community Lab
By Luke Roberson
Glynn County is known as a gateway to beaches on Jekyll and Saint Simons Island, with Brunswick as the county’s administrative center. However, the area is also recognized for four Superfund sites – areas listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency as needing significant environmental cleanup and remediation.
County Commissioner Allen Booker raised an issue regarding increased subsistence fishing in Terry Creek during the pandemic—a water body directly impacted by decades of contamination by the Hercules Landfill. Despite advisories and monitoring by the EPA and Hercules, the local community continues to fish there.
The reasons behind this are multifaceted, encompassing tradition, geography, culture, and economic necessity. Historically, environmental research and messaging have often excluded those with lower incomes and people of color, even though they face the highest health risks from pollution.
In February, the IWH began a series of training sessions for our participants, with certifications to collect and log data into the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream database, the largest volunteer water quality monitoring organization in Georgia. In March, we installed a mini-lab with water monitoring gear, safety equipment, and an aquatic bacteria analysis system owned by the Safe Water Together team.
As we head into the summer sampling season, the team will grow in numbers, capacity, and capability. Two summer interns will join the group and collect information on water quality and the community’s perceptions and attitudes on how they can make policy changes with the data they collect.
IWH Receives Grant From Partnership For Inclusive Innovation For Safe Water Together In Glynn County
STATESBORO, GA, 09/06/2023—The Institute for Water and Health, along with partners at Rebuilding Together Glynn County, the City of Brunswick, The Office of Health Equity and Community Engagement at Georgia Southern University, and the Georgia Technical Institute for People and Technology has been awarded a grant from the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation (PIN).
“This grant opportunity builds the capacity of our community and empowers
Glynn County Commissioner Allen Booker
traditionally underserved Black and Brown neighborhoods in our community so that our families
can improve their quality of life.”
The PIN grant supports Safe Water Together in Glynn County, a Community-Based Participatory Research project in the City of Brunswick, Georgia to address environmental justice issues around water quality, access to scientific information, and the communication and ownership of public health data. Funding will facilitate the creation of the Safe Water Ambassador Group (SWAG), a minority-led water quality monitoring and communication team. By using advanced water quality technology, the project targets bacterial and chemical contamination worsened by sea-level rise.
Because water quality data is collected by the community for the community, spreading the message about public health impacts and the next steps to protect residents can overcome traditional barriers to science communication. While this grant equips the SWAG team with training and advanced tools to monitor locally impaired waterways, much of the funding goes directly to community members and schools to integrate environmental data into public health behavior change. The main goals of this program are to empower residents with the information needed to influence policy decisions and improve public health outcomes for at-risk populations in Brunswick and Glynn County.