Learning more about our water

Times Reporter

 

Water is quickly becoming a rare commodity and it’s important to teach our youth to conserve in every way they can. Seven Grade 8 classes from Crowther Memorial Junior High, CMJH, approximately 170 students, took part in RiverWatch. This was the second consecutive year the school has sent students. 

“This year unfortunately the water level was too high and we weren’t able to go on the river, but we did all of the water quality testing before and after the Bonnybrook wastewater treatment plant, and we toured the waste treatment plant,” said CMJH Grade 8 teacher Sonja Smart.

RiverWatch is a program that sees thousands of Alberta students spend time on their local rivers in a floating laboratory each year. 

Smart said it fits in with the science unit in Grade 8 about fresh and salt water systems, and will help the students in Grade 9 and 10 classes as well.  

The students each paid $20 for the trip, the WID helped out by donating another $20 for each student, and CMJH paid for the bussing. 

“We are very closely tied to the river, and we take our water out of the river, and when these students are interested in what’s happening on the river, we wanted to support that,” said Erwin Braun, General Manager for the WID about why they support the program.  

“We found out about the program and found that it would support of curricular goals, so we looked into getting sponsorship to go,” said Smart.

As part of the unit there were five different tests and each test was based on one of the curriculum outcomes for the unit. Instead of writing the test, the students also had the option of taking part in a song-writing contest. 

Sho Blunderfield was the only student who took the opportunity to write a song. His song relayed a powerful message that he believes everyone should use less water and try to conserve so there will be water for future generations.