Are you ever concerned about the quality/health of the water you drink?

Most certainly. One always hears rumors of poor water quality and it makes you think, 'how clean is the water I drink out of the faucet?' It's issues like this that should make you go out there and find out for yourself how clean the environment is and how clean it CAN BE. - Joseph James Lendl, Brashear HS.

I get worried about water quality when I hear about water contamination and water problems in other areas, because I realize that problems can occur in any area if not maintained correctly. - Lindsay Glaid, Upper St. Clair HS

I am usually not concerned with water quality because there are standards that water must be to be drank and there are [treatment] plants that fix water to meet those standards - Teri Gitto, Moon Area HS.

I am concerned about water quality because it could in ways affect my health also. It is important to keep our waters healthy for the people and the living things in the creek. - Amanda Teierle, West Mifflin Area HS.

I think people these days look too far into the water they drink. It is almost as if they are 'too good' for tap water and won't drink anything unless from a bottle or Brita. Nobody wants to introduce chemicals and germs into their bodies but it is not the environmental tragedy that some make it out to be. It is possible some people are reducing their chances of building resistance to some common germs. - Ben Stoviak, Bethel Park HS.

I am concerned that coal mining makes drinking water unhealthy. Since there are coal mines scattered about the Pittsburgh area, I am concerned with the well being of others and myself. - Christopher Woodford, Upper St. Clair HS

Yes, because sometimes the water from my house can taste weird, so it makes me wonder if there is something else in it that shouldn't be there. - Katie Earnest, Moon Area HS

Some of the streams that we test are full of wastes and excess elements. The other streams are not actually clean, ones in which I wouldn't mind swimming in, but would never drink. - Mary _____________, Moon Area High School

I'm occasionally concerned about the quality of my drinking water. There is a lot of nasty chemicals put into waterways - how do I know it's not ending up in my glass? - Rachel Andoga, Brashear High School

I'm always concerned about the quality of the water that I drink. I live near a water plant, and about once a month, just driving by you smell the chemicals. I know they have to use the chemicals to clean the water, but even the water coming out at my house smells like chlorine. It makes me curious about everything I'm drinking with my H2O. - Patti Vandergrift, Brashear HS

Yes, sometimes because in our school some of the classrooms have brown water. I wonder if there is something wrong with the pipes or if it's our source (lake, ocean, or river). - Candice Berry, Frick Middle School


Do you think it is important to have laws that help protect our waterways?

It is important to have laws because if there are not any, people will dump everything into the water. That could have devastating effects on humans, wildlife, and vegetation. - Kim LaJenness, Moon Area HS.

If we didn't have laws to protect our waterways, we would have no idea of or control over what is in the water and our drinking water would be polluted. However, just because the laws exist doesn't mean that they are enforced, so we need to make sure the laws that exist are enforced. - Lindsay Wirtz, West Mifflin Area HS.

From watching 'Erin Brockovich' I have seen some pretty serious health problems that people have experienced from their water. If we don't help protect and keep our water clean, then it may become a much more serious concern like in the movie. - Ronieka Underwood, Brashear HS.

I believe that people are only concerned with wrong doing if there is a consequence to their actions. For example, no one would just walk out of an electronics store carrying a TV without paying because there are consequences. If no laws were made to protect our waterways, they would be destroyed. - Courtney Wright, Upper St. Clair HS.

It is important to have laws to protect our waterways because if it was up to all the careless people of the world, our waterways would be full of garbage and pollution, and I definitely don't want to drink that! - Karla Mandrier, Bethel Park HS.

I think we do need to protect our waterways. There could be problems with dumping materials and that could cause a fluxation of deaths to fish and microinvertebrates. - Lucy Coll, Moon Area HS

I think it is important to have laws that help protect our waterways. It is important because without law people could get sick from unhealthy water that is being distributed. - Chad Kelly, Moon Area HS

I think that it is important to have laws that help protect our waterways because there's a lot of pollution in the world. Since water is a vital staple in our existence, if something happened to its sources, imagine the disasters we would face. - Nicole Hagan, Brashear HS

Absolutely! Water is the driving force of life - we drink it, wash with it, and animals live in it. All of these things would be dangerous if the waterways were not protected. - Sarah Boehm, Brashear HS

Yes, it has already been proven that people pay money for water, so obviously it's worth something. If people keep treating bodies of water as dumps, then we won't have enough of one of the most important compounds to the human body (which, coincidentally is 70% water). - Chelsea Baratz, Upper St. Clair HS

Yes, because without laws, our waterways would be destroyed. The waterways are unhealthy and polluted as it is, imagine what it would be like without existing laws. Water is the heart of life, without it many things die. If we cannot maintain healthy waterways, then ecosystem will lose their heart. Julia Seirsdale, Upper St. Clair HS

Yes, by having laws it makes people do the right thing so they could protect the waterway. Although making laws is a good idea, I think it's stupid that we have to make people clean up after themselves. They should want to. Felicia Ragsdale, Frick Middle School


Do you enjoy going out to monitor your waterway, finding out how healthy it is?

Monitoring our waterway has given me a new outlook on the environment. I now want to make a difference and do my part to help out. - Sarah Otway, Brashear HS

I enjoy taking care of and monitoring our small creek because it is the beginning of other waterways. If we take care of our creek, then Upper St. Clair's creek will be cleaner. If everyone would take care of their own waterway, then our rivers and our own drinking water would be better. - Bethany Tucker, Bethel Park HS

I do enjoy testing the water in my community. Finding out how healthy the water is makes you feel like you play an important role in maintaining the health of the water and people who drink it. It is fun to spend time with friends working together for positive reasons. - Laura Benach, Upper St. Clair HS

Yes, because it is a good idea to monitor what so many people consume every day. I learn a lot about our community, the water and its cleanliness every time I go. - Amy Durgin, Upper St. Clair HS

Yes, I enjoy monitoring the waterways because you find out more about the water you're testing. For example the chemicals like the Dissolved Oxygen or the Alkalinity. Plus it is a part of science; one of my favorite subjects. - Janaya Kennedy, Frick Middle School

Yes, I enjoy monitoring the waterways. My favorite waterways to test are the rivers in Pittsburgh. People need to be involved in finding out about their drinking water because our natural resources must not be wasted. - Sarah Jo Baron Antonucci, Frick Middle School.