Walworth County water‑quality intern reports outreach, trainings and volunteer signups

Aman, the Walworth County water‑quality specialist intern, gave a mid‑summer progress report July 20 describing outreach, volunteer trainings and upcoming cleanup events across the county.

"So this is just a mid summer update, kind of what I've been up to so far this summer," Aman told the Land Conservation Committee, highlighting the department's June and July newsletters, which are posted on the county website and Facebook. The July newsletter highlighted local cleaning stations, and Aman said the newsletter also included a monthly species spotlight and an events page.

Aman said signup for county cleanup events remains open and that "Sign up closes noon, August 7," with planned locations including White River County Park, Comus Lake, Bayman Park (listed as Bayman Park in the meeting) and a station near Geneva Lake. Aman encouraged local groups to participate; a committee member suggested inviting the Elkhorn Rotary Club.

On training and monitoring, Aman reported the county ran two Clean Boats, Clean Waters trainings that together trained 29 volunteers and that she assisted personnel from neighboring counties on early‑detection monitoring protocols. "This trained me on the protocols for early detection monitoring and how to do them myself," Aman said, and she said she will begin conducting monitoring around the county in the coming weeks.

Committee members thanked Aman for the work and asked a few logistical questions about participation and scheduling. The committee then moved to a brief discussion of 2027 budget considerations; staff noted the county's SWARM grant allocations for staffing increased under the governor's biannual 2026 budget and that the increase is expected to carry into the 2027 budget.

Next meeting: the committee set its next meeting for Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at 1 p.m.