Students learn about the effects of watershed pollution

Staff report

CANFIELD

On an afternoon when creeks seemed closer to freezing than carrying runoff pollution, students were testing the waters for quality.

In partnership with EarthForce, General Motors on Friday hosted its Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District event for seventh- and eighth-graders at Mill Creek MetroParks.

South Range Middle School and Youngstown’s Chaney STEM sent 23 students to learn more about the effects of watershed pollution.

“We’re focused on watershed education and engaging young people as active participants in protecting the watersheds,” said Jan Sneddon, director of GM Global Rivers Environmental Education Network for EarthForce.

In addition to listening to speakers from the likes of the Mill Creek MetroParks and GM, students were led in an activity in which they built a model of a watershed.

“We did a demonstration of how watersheds work,” Sneddon said, “so they can see that water all runs downhill and takes pollutants and contaminants with it.”

They also tested water samples from a nearby creek for contaminants and macroinvertibrates such as salamanders.

Sneddon said the macroinvertibrates are an indicator of water health. If only the most-resilient ones are found, the water quality isn’t as good as possible. A variety of these shows that the water can sustain plenty of life.

“We tested pH in the water and learned about watersheds and a few ways we can help keep the environment safe,” said Nathan Austin, 12, a STEM seventh-grader.

Lordstown isn’t the only GM plant that gets involved in this kind of event.

“Everywhere there’s a GM facility, there’s a GREEN partner with EarthForce,” said Gerald King, an environmental engineer for GM at Lordstown. “And they’re going out into the communities with the youth.”

While EarthForce and GM have had water-sampling events with students in the past, they haven’t taken place in the winter. Friday, they were trying something new.

“This was more like a kickoff to hopefully pique their interest for what’s to come,” King said. “[We were] kind of explaining why we’re sampling, what good water consists of and what are the indicators for good water.”

King said the events usually have bigger crowds, but it being the end of the school term, only two schools could make time to participate.

“We approached more, but we expect to be working with more throughout the school year and in the spring,” he said.

Maia Hoffman, also a GM environmental engineer at Lordstown, said the program is an ongoing effort to increase area students’ knowledge and enhance teacher skills in environmental education.

“If the teachers are going to take this information and keep building on it year to year,” she said, “they can come to us and know more – and we can take them further.”