12 November 2013 Getting school students to cherish our water

With the summer break just around the corner, us Kiwis will be heading to the beaches, rivers and streams to relax, swim and have some fun. But all that depends on the quality of the water. Lincoln University’s extension programme, Waterwatch, is an interactive programme that involves school students monitoring the ‘health’ of their local rivers or streams.

According to the 6th biennial survey Peoples’ Perceptions of the State of the New Zealand Environment released in 2011, the most important environmental issue facing New Zealand is ‘water pollution and/or water’. So freshwater is an area of particular concern to New Zealanders.

Thanks to the support of The Canterbury Community Trust, Waterwatch is able to provide a fun, flexible and accessible programme of hands-on activities that encourage the sustainable management of, and responsibility for, our waterways.

The students are taken to a river or stream to enable the main chemical parameters, macro-invertebrates and stream flow to be measured by the students. The students record their results in a workbook and this data provides the basis for discussion back in the classroom.

In addition, Waterwatch uses this data to monitor and assemble a database of regional water conditions. This data is freely available for use, and has been used for science fair projects, exhibitions and elementary statistical analyses.

We are facing a range of environmental concerns, with water pollution being one of them. Getting school students learning about the wider impact of water as a resource now will give us future possibilities of finding solutions to protect our environment for future generations.
 
For more information or to request a field trip, visit the Waterwatch page.