Programs

  • 319 Water Quality Improvement Project

    319 Project: The goal was to improve water quality of three Kentucky River tributaries. Headwaters carried out watershed planning efforts including gathering environmental and water quality information through stream sampling, and information gathering from water officials and community members. After determining current stream water conditions, Headwaters developed a watershed improvement plan that was approved by KY Dept of Water and EPA. Headwaters completed a workplan to guide future implementation of improvement projects. 2,300 people locally impacted and 1000s downstream using the Kentucky River as a water supply, recreation etc. Headwaters completed this contract in October 2021.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Oct 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $4.2K

  • Mountain Drinking Water Project

    The Mountain Drinking Water Project (MDWP) is a university/community collaboration to reduce exposure to disinfection byproducts (DBP) in rural communities as DBP's may have an adverse effect on public health and are among the most frequent water quality violations in the US. Academic leads, Dr. Jason Unrine and Dr. Anna Hoover, with the University of Kentucky (UK), partner with our research coordinator, Debi Sexton, to recruit local citizen scientists to collect water samples in their homes to help analyze the causes of and solutions for problems related to DBP's. Headwaters currently is in its six month of collection with ten Letcher County citizen scientists who collect samples that are shipped on ice to the UK lab for extraction. Mockups for report backs are in the making to share the results with each individual citizen scientist to reveal the levels of DBP's in their samples, how they vary over time and with temperature changes, as well as, how they compare to other sampled homes and EPA suggested limits. In addition to citizen scientists tap water samples, our research coordinator collects additional tap water samples along with surface water samples from the Kentucky River all for DBP analysis. Other community based organizations join Headwaters along with individuals from the health sector, the water utility sector, and local and state governing agencies to form the Stakeholder Consultation Core to facilitate dialogue, provide input, and build trust in partnerships for the MDWP. The area flooding of July 2022 had a major impact on the MDWP as we lost the entire contents of our office including all the materials and supplies for water sampling. Not even a pencil was salvaged due to the raging flood water that reached the ceiling in that office knocking its tiles on the floor while all the contents including furniture, computers and testing equipment were left completely saturated, mangled, or lost as they floated down the river.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Oct 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $46K

  • Environmental Education Workshops

    Headwaters carries out Environmental Education workshops and other educational endeavors in classrooms, after school programs, and at Lilly Cornett Woods Research Center. The program was limited in 2020-2021 due to COVID-19 closures of schools and public facilities. Just as the program was getting restarted it was temporarily canceled due to devasting regional floods July 27-28, 2022. Typically 3000 school children and adults benefit.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Oct 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $10.8K