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BUTLER COUNTY — The Butler County Stream Team, a volunteer organization that collects and tests water samples from the county, is looking for more help from residents.

Formed a year and a half ago, the Stream Team gives residents a chance to help monitor the pollution level of the bodies of water in the county.

It works primarily to gather data not just for research, but for practical purposes as well.

Lynn White, a Stream Team volunteer and an educational specialist for the Butler County Soil and Water Conservation District, explained the need for a group such as this.

"We have had people entrusted in the past in water sampling," she said, "but no one was gathering the data so the information wasn't going anywhere."

White emphasized that the Stream Team can be a powerful resource to inform residents of how they can better take care of the water in their community.

"The more people that learn about their water quality of the creeks in their neighborhood, the better they can (take care of themselves)," she said. "A lot of the pollution is surface run-off. It can be caused from putting too much fertilizer on the lawn that wash into storm drains which lead to the creeks . . . Something simple like picking up pet wastes can help."

Stream Team volunteers use bottles distributed by the group to collect water from local creeks and rivers and analyze the samples using laboratory space provided by Miami in Boyd Hall.

Samples are dropped off at locations across the county such as the Oxford Farm Market, Talawanda Farm Market, Millville Firehouse on Route 27, Butler Count Engineer's Office on Route 4, and Barn N' Bunk in Trenton. More volunteers are needed on the eastern part of the county to create more drop-off locations.

White said that while Oxford has been especially of help, urban areas such as Hamilton and Middletown are called on for assistance as well.

Volunteers need not have any experience in collecting or lab work to help. Those interested can contact the Stream Team at (513) 529-5811 or streamteam@listserv.muohio.edu. To learn more about the group, go to their website at www.butlercountystreamteam.org.

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