Do you know how to determine the water quality of a river? What parameters should you take into account? What equipment do you need to carry out the analysis?
Four students from Futuro Verde inquired about these questions in the month of June 2017. Together with their environmental education teacher and three students from the National University, they explored the Danta River in Santa Teresa with the aim of evaluating its water quality in the framework of a project that seeks to promote the scientific learning of the students, generate awareness about the country’s water resources and involve students in community problems.
After an informative session at the institution, the students took samples of the Danta River at two different locations on June 3rd, 2017. Our student scientists came to the following conclusions: the visual analysis of the river clearly shows the effect of the lack of urban planning, the lack of macro-invertebrates is alarming in both points, and the physical and chemical parameters describe a river that suffers from contamination.
With the arrival of new scientific sampling equipment to our FV lab, we will be exploring more rivers in the community! One of the objectives of “We are all water” is to extend the activity to community members. If you are interested in learning about the water quality of the rivers in our area and collaborating with our student scientists we invite you to contact Javier Cáceres at Javier@futuro-verde.org.