IMPROVING KARST GROUNDWATER AWARENESS THROUGH A COLLABORATIVE EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN

The City of Bowling Green and Center for Human-GeoEnvironmental Studies (CHNGES) at Western Kentucky University (WKU) has been working to reduce deficiencies in public awareness of the city’s karst environment and the impacts that the actions of the residents can have on stormwater runoff and groundwater quality. Despite years of research about the karst groundwater issues in the area, many Bowling Green residents and visitors are not aware or do not understand the degrading effects of human activity and still regularly contribute to contamination of not only the karst system, but also the groundwater and drinking water supply for the city. This issue can partly be attributed to a lack of effective and accessible environmental educational materials, which if executed correctly, can ameliorate environmental degradation over time. By establishing an extensive real-time water quality monitoring network of the City’s karst groundwater and surface water systems, including meteorological data, the public can be provided access to water quantity and quality data. By coupling this with multiple informal education techniques, including interpretative signs, infographics, an educational website, a mobile application, and visual media, the City of Bowling Green and WKU CHNGES hopes to demonstrate these techniques can effectively communicate the interconnectedness of karst systems and their relationship to local water resources. Specific outcomes include utilizing this partnership to develop and investigate informal education tools to elicit changes in community behavior and increase public knowledge to provide a foundation for continuing to devise educational materials that achieve this goal. This project centers on activities to spur cohesiveness and behavioral changes in the community, improve understanding of karst terrains and its role in groundwater supplies, and spark curiosity and ownership about karst groundwater issues by the general public. Outcomes assessment is used to better quantify the success of these activities.