Several Virginia counties are receiving assistance this summer from three student water-resources interns who are participating in the Virginia Service Training for Environmental Progress (Va. STEP) program.

Va. STEP is a program of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, located at Virginia Tech. STEP places students from Virginia colleges and universities in various communities throughout the commonwealth to work on water-related issues identified by local community groups. Community groups provide a local site supervisor, food, and usually housing for the summer.

Intern Courtney Kimmel, a master’s student in Political Science at Virginia Tech, has been managing three projects. Kimmel helped assess and map streamside conditions in Roanoke and Montgomery counties for the Catawba Valley LandCare organization. She also researched issues surrounding sulfate-caused corrosion in wastewater treatment systems for Pulaski County. As part of the third project, Kimmel is working with the Grayson County LandCare organization to survey Grayson county residents to identify local water-resources values and concerns. The New River Watershed Roundtable is another community partner involved in the Pulaski and Grayson counties work.

Interns Doreen Davis, a rising senior at the University of Mary Washington, and Philip Hash, a rising senior at Roanoke College, have been conducting habitat assessments and monitoring stream-bottom organisms along Henry County’s Jordan Creek for the Dan River Basin Association.

Final project reports will be provided to community partners and maintained by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center for public access.

For additional information about the Va. STEP Program and the Virginia Water Resources Center, contact Alan Raflo at (540) 231-5463.

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