Clean Water Act and National Water Monitoring Day Information from:

Student Thoughts on Clean Water
.......from Newsletter Article
.......DIFFERENT and MORE student quotes

Creek Connections Schools October 18 Data for National Water Monitoring Day
(Microsoft Excel document)

Celebrate - Clean Water Act 30 Years Old
.................Written by: Chris Resek

What were you doing on Friday, October 18? Were you celebrating National Water Monitoring Day? Were you learning more about our nation’s water resources? Well, you could have been. Observed around the country, National Water Monitoring Day was sponsored by the America’s Clean Water Foundation to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. It was part of Congress’s proclamation that 2002 is the Year of Clean Water. During that day, schools, water monitoring groups, environmental organizations, and government agencies sampled their local waterways and submitted their data to a nationwide database. Amazingly, 22 Creek Connections schools sampled 36 sites throughout Western Pennsylvania for the event.

Public concern over the quality of our nation’s waterways intensified in the 1960’s with evidence that aquatic ecosystems were being stressed and polluted. Dead fish were washing up on the shores of the Great Lakes. Drinking water in some cities was becoming fouled routinely. Beaches closed from excessive bacteria in the water. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was so polluted that it caught fire. Something had to be done to protect and clean the nation’s water resources, so in 1972 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, better known as the Clean Water Act.

Passage of the immense Clean Water Act was a bold step attempting to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” It also set the ambitious goal of returning U.S. surface water to “fishable and swimmable” conditions. The act changed outdated water pollution laws and for the first time placed limitations on point source pollution discharges and created surface water quality standards. Industries, wastewater treatment plants, and other point sources were given limits and permits for the amount of conventional and toxic pollutants they were allowed to discharge into the water. “Best practicable” pollution control technology was to be implemented in different stages, and funds became available to help, especially for outdated municipal sewage treatment facilities. Eventually, the act began to address nonpoint source pollution as well.

In the past three decades, Clean Water Act programs have yielded measurable improvements in water quality, but they have not solved all water pollution problems. There are still many issues and concerns over water quality, which is one reason why so many people in the country volunteer to monitor waterways nowadays. Keeping an eye on their local waterways helps raise public awareness and increase community knowledge about water resources and their threats. National Water Monitoring Day was a way to celebrate citizen action in waterway protection.

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For National Water Monitoring Day, 22 Creek Connections schools sampled 36 sites, ranging from small creeks in wooded ravines to large creeks running through urban settings or agricultural lands.

Perry Traditional Academy, a new Creek Connections school, used the big day as their first opportunity to head out to their creek for water monitoring. Nestled in a wooded ravine within Riverview Park, the students experienced the autumn atmosphere in the creek valley. They witnessed leaves falling into the creek, adding energy and nutrients. After their water chemistry testing, they hunted for some aquatic insects that might eat those leaves, finding some scuds and leeches. Not a sign of superb health, but at least a sign of life.

Also in the Pittsburgh area, Letsche High School made sure they sampled Pine Creek that day. Frick Middle School spent time at Nine Mile Run collecting from upstream and downstream sites for comparisons. Seneca Valley Intermediate High School hoped they would see more waterway birds as they sampled that Friday.

Up in Northwest Pennsylvania, Fort LeBoeuf High School students not only conducted water chemistry tests on October 18, but also completed a pollution tolerance index based on netted aquatic macroinvertebrates. Parker Middle School students continued their quest to inspect three small streams around their school, while neighboring General McLane High School ninth graders sampled the wooded Parker Run and submitted their data to the National Water Monitoring Day database.

Other schools participated in the day as well. The Creek Connections staff was busy too, sampling to ensure that Crawford County schools, which had an in-service day off that Friday, would be represented in the database. Having so many schools sampling on the same day creates a unique data analysis opportunity – a regional watershed snapshot.

Having the same sample date (keeping time constant) allows for better water quality parameter comparisons to be made between different sites and different waterways. The water quality database for all the schools sampling for National Water Monitoring Day can be found on the Creek Connections webpage – click here. Participating teachers also received a copy.  
 

Creek Connections recently asked some Pittsburgh area high schools their thoughts on water quality and laws protecting water.

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. - Christoper Woodford, Upper St. Clair HS

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 t.v. 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

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.