           
   
Project
Assists Spring Hill Middle School Students
in
Conducting Stream Monitoring
After school becomes a learning experience for students from Spring Hill
Middle School. SHMS Science Teacher Steve Haffener, Project Information
Specialist Jennie Fyock and Project Director Gale
Garber work with students to conduct water quality monitoring.
Eight eighth grade students perform the following water tests: stream assets, air
and water temperature, pH, nitrates, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and
macroinvertebrates.
Above, EPA Region VII Regional Administrator Jim Gulliford talks to 30 of the
260 Wheatridge Middle School students who monitored over the three-day event.
Some of the testing parameters in the water quality monitoring include testing
for: macroinvertebrates, air and water temperatures, dissolved oxygen, pH,
turbidity, nitrogen, phosphorus.
Four Project board members attended the event.
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Ben Rawles and Melissa Bertelson, EPA Region VII,
examine captured macroinvertebrates. |
Abby Harris, left,
another students and Brady North, right, perform tests while EPA
Region VII Regional Administrator Jim Gulliford observes their work. |
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Students worked in various locations throughout the
Hillsdale Watershed over three days. |
The stream monitoring events were organized and made possible
through funds received through a competitive Johnson County Stormwater
Management Advisory Council Water Quality Education Initiative
awarded to Hillsdale Water Quality Project.
Prior press release
Letters From Wheatridge Students
Pete Davis, EPA, left, helps Wheatridge Students
collect macroinvertebrates at the Big Bull monitoring site.
Local citizens and individuals representing local and state agencies
are involved with education watershed landowners for the protection of Hillsdale
Lake. The goal is to create greater community awareness of everyone's role to protect
this resource in northeast Kansas.
The Hillsdale Water Quality Project's efforts have continue to
emphasize children's programs to allow students to understand the issues of water
quality and water conservation. Students from the Spring Hill and Gardner-Edgerton
school districts have monitor streams within the watershed. Working with these students,
and conducting public presentations, allows the project's volunteers opportunities
to generate local ownership in the project's efforts and results.
The Hillsdale
Water Quality Project staff has developed a series of classroom activities related
to water issues. These presentations can be scheduled by contacting the project's
office. The project also participates in the Corps of Engineers annual Ecology Days
program at Hillsdale Lake for area fifth graders. Using a watershed model and activities,
the Hillsdale project demonstrates how point and non-point source pollution affect
a watershed and the activities that take place in the area.
Distribution of
the Water Source, a quarterly newsletter, has been broadened. This newsletter
is sent to 10,000 homes within the watershed. It can also be obtained at local libraries
in the watershed and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and Kansas Department of Wildlife
and Parks offices located near the dam. The newsletter provides information concerning
the project's goals, objectives and monitoring activities. Information about the
lake itself and upcoming activities is also provided.
Other informational
brochures distributed by the project include tips on reducing pollution and a summary
of the project's monitoring data.
Staff members and their volunteers are
able to provide presentations to local groups and organizations on the project's
activities and on the importance of protecting Hillsdale as a dinking water source.
These presentations can be formatted for various time periods and age groups.
Spring Hill USD No. 230 middle school students survey a stream within the Hillsdale
Watershed.
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