Hi! Welcome to the Cambridge Friends 8th grade water quality blog. We have been working with the Friends of Alewife Reservation and Kestrel Educational Adventures to help monitor the Alewife Reservation water quality. We go down to Alewife every other Wednesday and test for several different water quality parameters, including pH, nitrogen compounds, BOD and DO, coliform bacteria, and salinity.
We also take photos and observe and identify the plants and animals that are found near the sites. This is a great way to learn about chemistry because it's hands on and really interactive. We're learning a lot more than being in the science room by going to Alewife and actually doing procedures, and at the same time it's nice to be outside!
This Post reflects responses of the Friends of Alewife Reservation founder Ellen Mass in regards the field work of 8th grade students at Cambridge Friends School with teacher Jessica Kagle in an extensive outdoor water quality testing and observation project at Alewife Reservation, the stewarding spot for FAR which has its mission to care for, monitor and learn from the rare urban wild in our midst.
ReplyDeleteThis project from your classroom which took place on the South side of Little River was of great benefit to the community exposing water pollution concerns, testing fluctuations, learning opportunities and mostly, showing the importance of monitoring the river and ponds water, and keeping basic water quality standards present and visible for community adherence. To date, appropriate data has been neglected and too many dead animals have been identified: Swan, geese, ducks, woodchucks, possum, vole, frogs, 1 fish, great blue heron. To date no one knows the cause of their death. By testing the water, an effort is being made to identify the causes which may or may not be natural causes of death.
Students have had many opportunities to learn the nature of the Cambridge storm water wetland where they were testing off of Little River which flows into Alewife Brook in East Arlington. This newly created wetland (named "ponds" by students). The boardwalk (named "bridge") was created for use by
the city, Mass Water Resource Authority, Department of Conservation and Recreation to help separate the storm water from sewer water in the area of Huron Ave. near the School which was required throughout the country federally by the Clean Water Act of Congress. Thus, it is so very important that the water fall within the water quality testing norm. You have demonstrated that this is not always the case by your simple tests.
We know nitrate, amonia and e-coli, in excess, can harm animals, birds and damages the macro- invertebrate populations in the water, and thus can severely impact the ecological value of a watershed such as the Mystic River watershed, our watershed, that flows into the Mystic River and then into the Atlantic Ocean.
Please take a look at our maps on www.friendsofalewifereservation.org. And type in storm water wetland for slide shows and photos. Your photos were so very clear and impressive and were helpful for noting areas with high, normal or sub-normal testing results and hopefully will alert the city of Cambridge and town of Belmont, whose water flows into this wetland, to monitor more carefully what is coming in and from where. We are concerned that the thousands of new housing units being built at Alewife may contain many contaminants, some of which you have noted.
Friends of Alewife Reservation would very much like permission to use your manual this summer for our Ecology campers from Middle or High School who will be a part of a 6 weeks environmental learning experience about Alewife ecology on both sides of the River.
They will be learning water quality testing as well as macro-invertebrate testing and this manual will be very helpful.
We'd like to see the class do a report (summary) of your observations, test results of concern, suggestions of what needs to be pursued for improvements, and viewpoints on ecology in an urban setting which is both regional and local. Keep in mind this watershed and 100 year floodplain where your project was, is surrounded by Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge and Somerville and flows through Medford and into the Mystic River.
FAR shows great appreciation for your study, research, careful concern about testing accuracy and
possible error, and sensitive observations of the Cambridge newly created storm water wetland which has gotten positive attention and won awards from around the country. We wish to keep the water quality of the highest and to improve the low ratings of the Little River and Alewife Brook with your
results.
We look forward to a summary and booklet that we can actually use for our oncoming summer
students of 2015 and beyond.
HI!
ReplyDeleteHI!
ReplyDelete