Let's Collaborate

West Virginia’s economy has historically been based on extractive industries, causing legacy impacts on the state’s economy and its citizens. However, there are several hopeful examples of the transformation that occurs when local waterways are restored. An environmental liability can become a community asset and even attract recreation-based tourism into economically depressed areas.

Watershed groups serve an important role in advocating for, preserving, and restoring their local waterways, as well as advancing and promoting recreational opportunities which may lead to economic gain in blighted communities. Common Waters aims to simultaneously address community and student needs by providing innovative opportunities for student-community engagement centered around rural water issues.

Student project spotlights

Stained Waterways

WVU graduate Fine Arts students Asha Cabaca and Lindsay McCarty created an art installation entitled "Stained Waterways" as their final project in their Art and Environment course. The display visualized the effect of acid mine drainage on the local river systems in Morgantown. By dyeing and saturating found white fabric with silt and sediment from the Monongahela River and Robinson Run, the students created a visual representation of the impact these pollutants have on the natural ecosystem.

BRWA Highlight Posters

Haley Paul, a WVU undergraduate student majoring in Political Science and International Studies, developed two outreach posters for the Buckhannon River Watershed Association (BRWA) utilizing information from the organization's 2023 Newsletter. She then printed and hung the posters at WVU to educate students on acid mine drainage and spread awareness of BRWA's work.

Chartiers Creek Erosion Study StoryMap

WVU undergraduate student Sarah Nelson developed an interactive StoryMap to engage the public in an erosion project with the Upper Chartiers Creek Watershed Association. The study monitored and quantified the erosion of a stream bank along a public park and ball field. The watershed association hopes the project will bring awareness and help make the case to funders to invest in the restoration of the stream bank.

Targeted Monitoring in the Upper Ohio River

Hannah Bentley, a WVU undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Soil and Water Science, synthesized findings from a collaborative research project of high public interest. The resultant StoryMap includes information from water sampling, fish surveys, and plastic pellet monitoring surrounding the region's first ethylene cracker plant. This project was done in collaboration with Three Rivers Waterkeeper, Mountain Watershed Association, and several universities.