SECONDARY SCHOOLS

In recent years, Waterwatch NSW, in partnership with the Sydney Water Streamwatch program, has developed a comprehensive support program for secondary schools. The program is supported by a detailed manual outlining how to get started with water quality testing, what to test for, interpreting the results, and a range of other information about monitoring and understanding your local environment.

The Streamwatch/Waterwatch manual outlines 8 important water quality tests and explains the importance of these measures to the health of waterways:

• Temperature
• Turbidity
• Total Dissolved Solids
• Conductivity
• pH
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Biochemical Oxygen Demand
• Phosphates
• Faecal coliform

The manual also outlines a range of additional methods of monitoring your site or sites to better understand the health of your waterway.

Sections of the manual are available electronically on the Sydney Water Streamwatch page at www.streamwatch.org.au\elib. A list of senior curriculum links for Streamwatch is also included on the Sydney Water Streamwatch web site.

Hardcopies of the Streamwatch manual are available from the NSW Waterwatch Facilitator on 02 9895 7402, or e-mail water.watch@dnr.nsw.gov.au.

The manual includes detailed instructions on the use of all equipment recommended by the program.

A new Waterwatch NSW Manual is currently in preparation. If you would like to find out more please e-mail water.watch@dnr.nsw.gov.au or contact the Waterwatch Facilitator on 02 9228 6506.

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PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The Waterwatch Junior Manual outlines simple ways to monitor water quality and shows how to interpret test results to understand how human activities can impact on water quality. It is aimed at primary age students but also meets some senior curriculum requirements.

The Waterwatch Junior Manual was developed by Department of Land and Water Conservation staff in the Central West Region of NSW, and has been adapted for use throughout New South Wales.

Hardcopies of the manual are available on request, and electronic copies will be available in the future. For more information contact the NSW Waterwatch Facilitator at e-mail water.watch@dnr.nsw.gov.au, or phone 02 9895 7402.

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ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS

Autumn and Spring Water Bug Surveys

The NSW Water Bug Survey is a fun and easy way to check the health of your local waterway.

Hundreds of schools and community groups in NSW have already caught water bug fever. The NSW Water Bug Survey is run twice a year in Autumn (March) and Spring (October) and has wriggled along since 1994.

What is a "Water Bug"?

The term 'water bug' is used as shorthand for aquatic macro-invertebrates (spineless little creatures). Aquatic macro-invertebrates spend all or part of their life in waterways like streams, rivers, ponds, estuaries, wetlands and irrigation drains. These gigglin' wrigglies are insects, crustaceans, molluscs and worms including stoneflies, mayflies, shrimps, flatworms, blood worms, leeches and beetles.

Why search for water bugs?

Some water bugs are more sensitive to pollution than others. The presence or absence of particular bugs in a waterway tells us a lot about the health of the catchment. When water becomes polluted or disturbed, sensitive water bugs like stoneflies, mayflies and shrimps may die. Flatworms, leeches and bloodworms are more tolerant to a polluted home and changes in habitat.

The other reason to search for water bugs is that its lots of fun!

All of the information on how to catch and identify water bugs is listed on the website www.bugsurvey.nsw.gov.au .

If you want to do the bug survey at any time as a fun and educational activity, all of the information is available on the bug survey website. The activity is suitable for primary age students, cubs and scouts, community environmental groups, secondary schools, or anyone interested in better understanding their local environment.

Murder Under the Microscope

Attention Teachers! Are your students super sleuth investigators? Would they have fun trying to identify the villain in an environmental catastrophe?

Murder Under the Microscope is a competition open to all schools. It is best suited to students in years 5 to 8.

Murder Under the Microscope (or MUM as it is affectionately known) is a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC) and the Open Training and Education network (OTEN). It involves student detective groups investigating potential environmental "victims", "villains" and "crime sites" over a three-week period each year via the latest technology. Clues are beamed into the classroom via SBS TV and Internet Broadcasts.

The first part of the competition culminates in teams posting an accusation on the web site following the final day's broadcast. The first school to identify the environmental villain is the winner.

The second part of the competition entails groups submitting a catchment management plan to address the problems raised by the scenario. Groups are judged in two categories: primary and secondary. The plans must be submitted in an A4 written form but may be supplemented with other materials including pictures, maps, graphs, board games, web sites, videos, role-play, songs, and poems. The winners in both the primary and secondary categories are the Murder Under the Microscope Eco Planners.

Schools must register to be part of the competition and are provided with a badge ID that serves as a password to participate in the game. The game is held in term two every year. Teachers are provided with a handbook that outlines the rules and details the game.

Over 1800 school groups across Australia registered for "Rumble on the River", the Murder Under the Microscope theme for the year 2002. Registrations have increased every year and the same groups keep on coming back. Join in the fun and learn something along the way.

For more information visit www.microscope.ozeducate.com.au, or contact Catchment Headquarters on email catchment.hq@tafensw.edu.au or telephone 1800 817 761.

Streams Alive - A Sydney Water Streamwatch program

For schools in the Sydney basin and Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment, the Sydney Water Streamwatch program offers the excellent "Streams Alive" program for primary schools. For more information visit the Streamwatch web page at www.streamwatch.org.au, or phone 02 8752 6400.

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