Water Quality Education:
A Community-based Education Approach

On April 24, approximately 800 students from over 25 classrooms in the Grand Traverse area will "take a leave of absence from school" (as one student phrased it) and head to the local streams. What is the leave of absence all about? Students grades 5th through 12th will conduct water quality tests and monitor the streams and tributaries of the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed as part of a regional water monitoring program.

The school program is based on the environmental education model developed by the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN). Instrumental to the GREEN program is the idea that students benefit tremendously from hands-on learning and community-based education. In our situation, the topic involves learning more about our community's watersheds, its water quality and the organisms that live here.

Stream Investigation As students begin investigating watersheds and water quality, they soon realize that the topic of water quality is far more complex than simply judging whether the water looks clear and smells clean. In fact, students conduct nine different chemical and physical tests which measure different characteristics of water quality. For example, one of the tests students perform is a dissolved oxygen test. This test measures the amount of oxygen available in the stream, which is vital to sustaining the diversity of aquatic life. Other tests students perform include: fecal coliform, pH, nitrates, phosphates, biochemical oxygen demand, temperature, turbidity, total solids.

In addition to conducting tests, students survey the river environment and the biological community at their stream site. With a clipboard in hand, students answer specific questions about what they see, smell and hear. For example, students are asked to describe the vegetation, the erosion, the smell of the soil and water, the composition of the stream bed, the organisms they see, the type of land use surrounding the area, etc. This stream or shoreline survey is an important part of their overall assessment and may help explain some of their test results.

At the river site, some students or teachers also put on waders, step into the stream and kick up gravel, debris and insects into a net. This catch is then transferred to white pans where an identification process can begin. In particular, students look for the aquatic insects or benthic macroinvertebrates. Technically, students are looking for biological indicators of water quality, but what they realize is that healthy and clean water has a direct relationship with the diversity of organisms it supports.

In the aquatic environment, we know that some organisms can tolerate higher levels of pollution than others. In polluted water, organisms such as black fly larva or leaches are some of the few organisms that survive. We call these creatures "pollution tolerant." Conversely, organisms that die off in polluted water are referred to as "pollution intolerant." Organisms such as mayflies and caddis flies fit this category. While there is a specific procedure for calculating an index, in general, the more variety and diversity there is the better.

While monitoring last Fall, students from Kalkaska High School inspected over 100 different aquatic organisms. They identified at least 30 different types of insects, including one that is rarely found. After doing their calculations, students could confidently say that "this shows a clean river because you have a wide variety of organisms" (report done by Kalkaska High School students).

Connecting with the Community A very beneficial aspect of the watershed program is the opportunity for students to learn about and to make connections with our community and environment. Some connections are incorporated into the coordination of the program. Not only do students investigate their stream site, but students will exchange data with more than 25 other classes throughout the five county area. With data from many different sites, students will be able to compare data and see upstream/downstream relationships. Consequently, they will have a better view of the watershed as a whole.

Students will also meet other students involved in the project. Student representatives from each class or school will meet when they convene May 6, at the Park Place Dome in Traverse City for a River Congress. Here students will share their findings as they make presentations to each other and to invited guests from the community. At this event, students will also participate in workshops facilitated by local resource professionals.

Other community connections are more opportunistic. At Traverse City's East Junior High, one of the classes started their watershed investigation by reading a recent issue of National Geographic which featured water quality issues in this area. "Before ever reading this article I do not think that I had ever thought about run-off pollution. But the fact that the story took place around me had a bigger affect on me" (student writing from East Junior HIgh). While the statement seems fitting enough, we should not underestimate the value of connecting education to the community and making it relevant. The watershed investigation encourages community-based education.

Successes
While students in the watershed program learn about many issues facing our community, they also learn about water related success stories and how they contribute to the health and well-being of our community and environment. After reading the National Geographic article, students came away with several ideas about how people contribute to environmental well-being. The following writings from students at East Junior High conveys some of these ideas:

As awareness spreads people are trying to get into better habits or are spending the money necessary to create a cleaner environment. Homeowners are getting updated septic systems and are being more cautious with oil and grease which are from their cars. Owners of big public buildings are installing [retention] basins which collect waste sediments. Farmers are also doing their part. They are bottle feeding their trees with fertilizer which cuts down on the quantity of fertilizer used. They are also cutting the use of pesticides down and encouraging the "good insects" to thrive and kill the insects which bother their crops.

I can decrease water pollution in several ways. One, I can stop washing my hair in the bay.

[one student thought to dispose of used car oil properly] instead of dumping it in the driveway to hold down dust

I think that reducing the amount of fertilizer we use is an option

I myself could get involved in checking on our septic tank...

Partners The Watershed Education Program is a combined effort from the following partners: Area Schools, Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative, Grand Traverse Regional Math, Science and Technology Center, Grand Traverse Area Volunteer Center, RSVP, Rotary Charities, U.S. EPA, Global Rivers Environmental Education Network.

Return to the Index of Synapse 35, Spring Equinox 1996