It is officially the end of our fall water quality monitoring season! While this year looked a bit different than water testing in the past, we were still able to have an amazing time testing with elementary and middle schools all around the Nisqually Watershed. Our efforts allowed us to reach schools in the Yelm, Bethel, and Eatonville School districts, a handful of Middle School science clubs, and even a first year seminar class at St. Martin’s University. Our most impressive feat to date included partnering with North Thurston Public Schools and fellow watershed education group South Sound GREEN to get the water quality monitoring into every 5th grade class in the North Thurston School District!
Water quality monitoring at Lydia Hawk Elementary
Due to COVID-19 restrictions we were unable to take students to the Nisqually River for water testing, so this year we brought the river to them! NREP staff spent September and October visiting schools to provide students with an opportunity to engage in hands-on science learning. During each testing day the students would rotate through four stations and participate in various tests to determine if the Nisqually River is healthy enough to support salmon. The students tested real Nisqually river water for dissolved oxygen, nitrates, pH, and turbidity, and even had a chance to identify aquatic bugs, which are another indicator of water quality! The goal of water quality testing is to get students engaged with real life science and increase understanding on how human actions can impact the health of salmon habitats. After the testing, students were able to determine if our water was healthy enough for salmon to survive and had a more holistic understanding of how to protect our stream systems. A few of them even said they wanted to become water quality scientists when they’re older! Cheers to a great water quality monitoring season and many thanks to the awesome teachers and parent volunteers that made testing possible this year!
Students performing a dissolved oxygen test
