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260 Wheatridge Students
to Test Local Streams’ Water Quality,
EPA Region 7 Administrator to Assist Students, Oct. 20
The
Hillsdale Water Quality Project will assist more than 260 Wheatridge Middle
School students in the streams to monitor water quality in locations within the
Hillsdale Lake Watershed. The three days of events are in celebration of World
Water Monitoring Day and the 32nd anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
The students will take their in-class knowledge to the
streams to conduct hands-on stream chemical monitoring and improve their
environmental science skills. Students, teachers and Project staff will test a
minimum of five sites in the Hillsdale Watershed for pH, turbidity, dissolved
oxygen, nitrates and temperature and other chemicals within the streams.
This is the first year that we will have Jim Gulliford,
EPA Region VII regional administrator, to attend and participate in the events.
He will be at the Oct. 20 event with Wheatridge Science Teacher Greg Smith’s
afternoon class.
"Our sincere hope is that communities in our Region take this
opportunity to enjoy our nation's waterways and continue our shared efforts to
protect and preserve our precious water resources for current and future
generations," Gulliford said.
Gale Garber, Hillsdale Water Quality Project director said
the experience of working with the students in the streams continues to be
fulfilling and educational.
“The more we teach youths and adults about point source and
nonpoint sources of water pollution and protecting water quality in Hillsdale
Lake, the more we can protect our water supply resource and surrounding
environment,” Garber said.
Wheatridge eighth grade Science Teachers Greg Smith, Matt
Kueser and Amy Hughes will take the entire eighth grade class to the streams
over three days. Following the monitoring, the students and teachers will
compile and study the results, and turn their findings into the Hillsdale Water
Quality Project.
Volunteer monitors build awareness of pollution problems,
become trained in pollution prevention, help clean up problem sites, provide
data for waters that may otherwise be unassessed, and increase the amount of
water quality information available to decision makers at all levels of
government. Among the uses of volunteer data are delineating and characterizing
watersheds, screening for water quality problems, and measuring baseline
conditions and trends.
In 2002, the first National Water Monitoring Day was held to
mark the 30th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. More than 75,000 Americans
participated in monitoring events and educational programs throughout the United
States. Since then, the event grew to an international celebration and
monitoring event. Throughout October, people across the planet will be
providing water monitoring results and findings to the World Water Monitoring
Day website,
www.worldwatermonitoringday.org. Additional information is available online
at
www.worldwatermonitoringday.org, the EPA’s monitoring website at:
http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring or visit the Project’s website at
www.hwqp.org.
The Wheatridge students’ results from the testing will be
posted on the World Water Monitoring Day and Hillsdale Water Quality Project
website.
Hillsdale Water Quality Project is funded through
local, private, municipal and public donations and grant funds. These stream
monitoring events are funded through a Johnson County Stormwater Management
Advisory Council Water Quality Initiative Grant.
For more information, contact Gale Garber 913-829-9414.
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