For members of USC's Water Club, the organization has created a space for learning about the importance of clean water and conversation.
The club is the student chapter of the South Carolina Water Associations, which is made up of the South Carolina section of the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Association of South Carolina. While the club's official name is the "SCAWWA-WEASC Carolina Student Chapter," members refer to it as "Water Club."
The Water Club was founded in 2018 after a group of environmental health sciences students with the Arnold School of Public Health attended the South Carolina Environmental Conference and learned about the South Carolina Water Associations' student chapters.
“We are students who have a really big interest, and we got really excited because there’s just so many good opportunities that come from this kind of involvement," enviromental health sciences doctoral student and co-founder Katya Altman said.
However, shortly after the club was founded, Water Club faced difficulties with keeping members during the COVID-19 pandemic as they were unable to host in-person cleanups and pannels. After partaking in virtual meetings and events, Water Club fully restarted in fall 2022.
According to Water Club’s current President Lola Renauer, a first-year environmental health sciences doctoral student, the reactivation of the club aims to connect students from all over the university to the clean water field through guest speakers, water testing, stream clean-ups and opportunities to go to conferences and earn grants.
“We have students from the engineering department, environmental health, public health," Renauer said. "I think we even have a few teaching and finance and nursing students, so it’s a really broad scope that we’ve gotten everybody connected in.”
Renauer said that one of the club's biggest outreach efforts is the clean-ups and water quality testing that they do through Adopt a Stream. The program is through the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and allows volunteers to take responsibility for testing and monitoring the water quality in their adopted stream.
While participating in these activities, Renauer said members learn all kinds of information during stream cleanups.
“You never know. This might help you. If you’re in nursing and you need to know how to titrate a sample, there you go. Or if you're in pre-law and become an environmental lawyer, you might need to know how to read a science sample,” Renauer said.
Through the conservation work that Water Club does, Water Club treasurer and fourth-year exercise science student Catalina Roa said she realized how important water conservation is.
“We don’t realize how integrated water is with everything," Roa said. "We need water to drink, we need water to shower, make food, cook."
Roa said she joined Water Club in the fall of 2022 because she was “intrigued by the name” and has enjoyed taking part in the education and cleanups that the club offers.
“You’re helping the environment, and what’s not fun about that?” Roa said.
According to Altman, getting involved with a club that promotes environmental education is a big step toward change.
“A lot of time, the first thing to do for people to change (their) behavior is to actually be aware of the concerns that we have,” Altman said.
Altman is now in an advisatory role for the club, and believes that the growth the club is making is crucial for helping members make connections and help the environment.
“I think that Water Club is a great avenue for people to connect to others who care and find ways to make meaningful contributions,” Altman said.
While Water Club has grown to 30 members this year, those involved continue to encourage others at the university to join and find out more about helping South Carolina’s water.
"(I want to) continue to build the club," Renauer said. "Maybe we could be like the sororities and fraternities that have countless members."