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Join us as we share our experiences and discoveries exploring the Taunton River Watershed and our role as stewards. Dive into our research, activities, and insights.
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Stormwater Stewards Project 2018-2019 HR 117 Grade 5 Benjamin Friedman Middle School Taunton, MA
Why are we here today? Over the course of this school year our class has participated in the NOAA Stormwater Stewards Program. We have learned a lot about what it truly means to be a steward of our watershed through activities, research and exploration. We invite you to listen in as we present the different experiences we have had, and what we learned from each. Thank you!
What did we do? When Mrs. Rice asked us what a watershed was we all said “ a shed that holds water?” She said “no.” So we had to research what a watershed was, and it turns out that is an area of land and all the bodies of water (streams, lakes, ponds) that drain into a common outlet. Then we had to find where the Taunton River Watershed was, and it’s not only in Taunton. We used Google Maps/Google Earth to do this, as well as locate many other locations in the watershed. Then the common outlet that we found on google maps was Mt. Hope Bay.
What did we learn? We learned that a watershed is an area of land and all the bodies of water (streams, lakes, ponds) that drain into a common outlet. Another thing we learned is that there are 221 lakes and ponds in the Taunton River Watershed. Also, we learned about some of the towns/cities in the Taunton River Watershed. Some examples of towns and cities in the Taunton River Watershed are Berkley, Brockton, Avon, Foxboro, Hanson, Mansfield, Attleboro, etc… In conclusion, the Taunton River Watershed is very large, holding all these towns, cities, bodies of water, and a lot of people.
How does it Connect? We can connect this google maps activity to being a stormwater steward by learning about the watershed, looking at how extensive the watershed is, and our effects on the watershed. Over 700,000 people live in the Taunton River Watershed, which means that if one person says “oh it’s just one piece of plastic,” and throws it into the water, imagine if many people said that the effect it would have. Our watershed is very large and all water and pollutants come out to the same place, which is the ocean, where we swim, and other animals live.
What did we do? Sum of the Parts poster After we learned that we have an impact on the watershed we did an activity called the “Sum of the Parts.” When we did this project each student was given a normal town/city location that affects the earth.Ex. ( Beaches, amusement parks, golf courses, stores, malls, and factories. ) Then we put a river in the middle of the locations. We pieced together all the locations. Next, we dropped beads down the middle.We did this so we could use a visual model to see that all the beads represent things like dirt,oil,trash and more of the Earth’s major pollutants.This showed us that even if pollutants starts at the top of the watershed it will end up moving through the whole watershed and eventually get to our ocean.
What did we learn? In this project we learned that urban areas make more dangerous types of waste that can affect the biosphere in worse ways. Another thing we learned is that humans make a BIG impact on the environment. We also have learned that smaller waterways like rivers always reach bigger outputs, like lakes and oceans, and whatever pollution that is in the river from the beginning stays in the river until it reaches a bigger outlet.
How does this connect to being a Stormwater Steward? The Sum of the Parts connects to being a Stormwater Steward by showing us how putting even just one chip bag in a river it will make it into the ocean causing pollution and damage to our watershed. In fact if every person in the Taunton Watershed put a rubber duck in a river, lake, or pond there would be an estimate of 700,000 rubber ducks in the ocean. Imagine that is pollution instead?
So now we know we have an impact on our watershed. At Bridgewater State University we learned about... • “Green Parking Lots” • Impervious surfaces • Different types of fertilizers that are not safe • Pesticides • Pipetting When we went to BSU we talked about the “Green parking lot” and how it works. What we did was we learned how to use pipettes with different substances to ultimately test water that had been through the “green” parking lot.
What did we learn? Here at Bridgewater State University we learned how bioretention beds work and if they clean the stormwater to make it safe for wildlife. We learned how bioretention beds help make water sources healthier and how you shouldn't limit the use of pesticides or fertilizers in order to keep water healthy. We also learned how to use pipettes so we could test the water that is cleaned by the bioretention beds.
How does this connect to being a stormwater steward? The labs that we did at BSU connect to being a stormwater steward by showing us if the “Green Parking Lot” cleans the water and makes it safe for wildlife and humans. This showed us that even though we have a negative impact, we can still help our environment in the watershed improve.
What’s a bioretention bed? What did we do? A bioretention bed is a process in which contaminants and sedimentation are removed in stormwater runoff. Stormwater is collected into the treatment area which consists of grass buffer strip,sand beds,ponding areas and organic layers or mulch layers, planting soil and plants. In our groups we created small bioretention beds to help clean stormwater. Mrs. Rice gave us some household items and had us create a plan. These are some of the items we used coffee filters, sand, small and big rocks,and gravel. We also used water bottles as our bases for the experiment. After planning out what we wanted to do we started building our models.
How we made the model • Well first we got water from the Friedman stormwater sewers. We pulled some from our central courtyard, and some from the front parking lot (the pictures). We tested this water for ph levels, turbidity, temperature, and salinity. • Then we made the actual model using cheesecloth and coffee filters at the beginning. • Then, we added sand, small aquarium rocks, and large gravel inside the water bottle and ran our stormwater through the model.
Water Filtration Results *We didn’t formally measure it, but the volume was greatly reduced due to filtration.
What did we learn? How does this connect to being a stormwater steward? • We learned that we can somewhat filter water and some things we can do to protect our watershed. We also learned that we can use bioretention beds and “green” parking lots. Those will make a big change on the planet. • We are all stormwater stewards to the Taunton River Watershed. Adding bioretention beds to help filter water going to the watershed will allow more organisms to survive.
These are the results of our experiments Luke Sahmya William Tiffany and Michael Jillian Madeline Liam Dan Keilane Our bioretention beds might be tiny but they will make a big impact on the world.
What now? After we made the bioretention beds and saw that it could help to filter stormwater, we began to explore the wildlife that would be impacted by either our negative or positive effects on the watershed. We studied eel and herring migration and learned that both fish migrate between fresh and saltwater and therefore need to use our watershed. We talked about ways to help them such as fish and eel ladders, removing dams, stopping pollution, and making sure water is filtered and clean before entering the watershed. So off to Sawmill Park in Acushnet we went!
Eel and herring migration What we learned is that the herring can use fish ladders which are like stairs, that are actually more like little pools that they go in and then climb up them . When we went Sawmill Park we looked at the fish ladder. When we went to Sawmill Park we caught many glass eels to help track the populations that were migrating. The total glass eels we caught were 84.We caught the eels in the mop that looked kind of like a wig. My group caught 20 eels total with the eel mop. We also caught a few elvers.
WATER QUALITY TESTING: We tested the water quality of Sawmill Park Our average temperature of Sawmill Park was 14.13 degrees C (57.434 degrees F). That number means that our water temperature quality is average and can support growth. Our average pH level of Sawmill Park was 5.86. 5.86 is a good pH level because it is only 0.16 away from optimal.(6.00😁) That means that the fish in the park will be able to survive easily. The average conductivity for Sawmill Park is 125.48 uS/cm. That is adequate because it is 24.52 uS/cm away from optimal (150 uS/cm)
WATER QUALITY TESTING cont. The average turbidity of our water was 11.09NTU. That is 8.91NTU away from optimal so the average turbidity is fair. Through these tests and researches we have learned to analyze water quality data and draw conclusions from them. Overall, the water quality for Sawmill Park is potentially good. 😆
Macro-invertebrates at Sawmill Park This year we also learned about the Macroinvertebrates that are in our watershed. While we were researching and testing, we discovered that according to the tolerance level of the macroinvertebrates we have an average of 13.7 (on the tolerance scale) which is a potentially fair water quality, so we have potentially clean water. In class we had done a similar activity to help us understand how the macroinvertebrates can help us determine the potential health of the water. 😝
How this connects to being a Stormwater Steward We need to be able to identify whether or not the water that aquatic organisms are living in can support life. If it can’t we can use water filtration systems to clean the water, but we need to know the water quality first. By catching eels, testing characteristics of the water, and catching bugs we can begin to identify the quality of the water and monitor the survival of populations. 😁
Weather Monitoring Rain Gauge The rain gauge shows how much precipitation we get here at Friedman Middle School. The rain gauge collects stormwater. Kids in third and fourth grade are using our information to learn about weather, precipitation, and weather patterns. On cocorahs we have an account that we keep all of our data stored, such as the precipitation records for each day what type of the precipitation.
Weather Monitoring cont. Weather Station The weather station shows the temperature, how fast the wind is blowing, what direction the wind blows in, shows the high and low temperatures for the day and a forecast of potential precipitation.
Thank you! Over the course of many years science has improved rapidly. Even though we’re only in fifth grade we’ve learned one of the most important things that you could in science… that we are stewards of our environment. It was a hard task, but we knew we would overcome it. We put our knowledge to the test and made this slideshow. I hope you’ve learned something from this slide presentation. Before we leave we would like to thank all the amazing people that helped us get here so let's hear it for Dr.Kevin Curry, Dr.Robert Hellstrom, Mrs.Kim McCoy and the many volunteers from Bridgewater State University. Sincerely, Mrs.Rice’s class
