PBC Schools Participate in World Water Monitoring Day with LMC

LMC staff help students at Limestone Creek Elementary test the health of their local waterway

Students celebrated World Water Monitoring Day with LMC in September through our student citizen science water quality monitoring program. World Water Monitoring Day occurs annually on September 18^th, an international movement to promote awareness of water quality and the importance of protecting our local aquatic environments. The movement encourages individuals across the globe to test basic water quality parameters in a local aquatic ecosystem, including a measure of turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. Data collected contributes to EarthEcho’s global database, used to support and inform marine scientists studying marine system health around the world.

Lindsay French, LMC’s STEM Education Coordinator, traveled to one of our partner schools, Limestone Creek Elementary, to conduct a water quality analysis with 5^th grade students using their closest local aquatic ecosystem, a portion of the Loxahatchee River. The students then learned how to analyze their data and the importance of sharing what they’ve learned with other scientists to broaden their impact.

This lesson is a part of LMC’s Water Quality Monitoring citizen science program, an effort to engage students and community members with their local waterways. Through the program, participants learn about human impacts on sensitive aquatic ecosystems, what actions are harmful to these environments and how individuals can help monitor the health of their local waterways as informed environmental stewards.

In an age where there are many overwhelming environmental issues, we feel it is important to focus on educating students and engage them in the science of the issues and helping youth identify and take action towards solutions.

“It was rewarding to watch these students become citizen scientists for their own local aquatic ecosystem. What typically was just a part of their everyday scenery, now [the Loxahatchee river] is a body of water they know is important to protect.” – Lindsay French, STEM Education Coordinator

We look forward to working with students next year for World Water Monitoring Day 2020 and continuing to educate our community on the importance of improving these critical aquatic ecosystems.