Ferrum College Professor of Environmental
Science and Biology, Dr. Carolyn Thomas, has been elected to serve
on the Steering Committee for the Virginia Water Monitoring Council
(VWMC). The mission of the Virginia Water Monitoring Council is to
promote and facilitate coordination, collaboration, and communication
among water monitoring programs throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“It is our unique role and honor to represent the
volunteer water quality monitoring that Ferrum and like entities accomplish.
Ferrum’s twenty years of work with Smith Mountain Lake serves as an
excellent example of the care a small institution can provide the
environment, not leaving it to state and federal authorities alone,”
said Dr. Thomas.
The newly elected Virginia Water Monitoring
Council Steering Committee members for the term 2006-2009 are: Marvin
Booth, City of Bedford/Virginia Association of Municipal Wastewater
Agencies; Rick Brown, Virginia Rural Water Association; Chuck Frederickson,
James River Association; Carolyn Thomas, Ferrum College; Rick Webb,
University of Virginia; and Robin Wilder, Henrico County Department
of Public Works.
The initiative to form the Virginia Water
Monitoring Council (VWMC) began in 1999 in response to needs identified
and supported by consensus of the water monitoring community. The
VWMC seeks to foster cooperation among groups involved in all types
of water monitoring activities. The VWMC is interested in physical,
chemical, and biological monitoring, as well as the evaluation of
those factors that affect changes in water quality and quantity. The
interests of the VWMC include the full range of aquatic resources
ground and surface waters, freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments
and associated watershed characteristics in Virginia. The VWMC intends
to work closely with the National Water Quality Monitoring Council
and be recognized by the national program.
Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational,
liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree
programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges.
For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu.
