They are now mini guardians of one of the most popular waterholes in the Blue Mountains.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Kindlehill's high school students at Wentworth Falls recently were taught the essential elements of the Streamwatch program.
Streamwatch is a longstanding citizen science water quality monitoring program where community groups monitor and protect the health of local waterways. It is housed at the Australian Museum and supported by Blue Mountains City Council.
Last Wednesday, Council's environmental community and engagement officer, Jenny Hill, and volunteer Daniel Lewis outlined to the students how to take important measurements from the lake, including the lake's temperature, oxygen levels, salinity level, as well as acid and alkalinity, to judge its health.
The school is keen to take responsibility for their neighbourhood while also learning about the environment and science in a practical way.
While bad weather forced the full testing to be done inside the school, from this week the students will visit four key sites at the lake to conduct the tests.
Science teacher David Bowden they had many experts attend the school, including more recently, WIRES representatives and an internationally recognised permaculture designer to give the students a "real world" experience.
"It's all about being scientifically rigorous ...[and] it's much more alive when we teach it this way, when you can relate it to your own experience [in your own community]," he said.
During the testing, 15-year-old Lemuel Appel carefully handled some of the more dangerous chemicals, jokingly reminding another student to be careful "not to get your eyeballs burnt off". Mr Bowden said he hoped his Year 8-9 students would eventually be able to teach others in the school about the program.
Ms Hill said it was an ecologically endangered community around Wentworth Falls lake and pesticides filtered onto the waterway. Climate change was also affecting the area with "weeds down on the Cumberland plains now being seen up here".
The school is one of two - the other is Katoomba High - participating in the Streamwatch mentoring program, she said.
Principal Lynn Daniel said it made sense for the students to know about the "quality of the water in the lake, what impact it has on our lives and the drinking water of Sydney".
"The lake is our neighbour. It's really just an ongoing thing for us," Ms Daniel said. "With our high school curriculum it's all about bringing experiences to the students to engage them so it makes sense to them, this is just one of those things." It was also about having a "positive" approach to the environment.
Mr Lewis, who has volunteered for seven years for Streamwatch, said he hoped the students could help him "maintain my enthusiasm and discipline" for regular record taking.
Mr Bowden added he hoped that while they participated in the project they would continue to see an improvement in the water quality at the lake so students could swim in it.
