Year 6 Annual Water Testing with WaterCare

 Today, we were fortunate enough to have Kathryn from Watercare come work with our Year 6's to test the water quality of our estuary.  We learnt about the factors that can harm our estuary such as litter, car oil, detergent, concrete making and fertiliser run off.

Next we tested water samples and observed macro water invertebrates. The other half of the class picked up litter and hunted land invertebrates.  Sadly so much plastic litter had blown into our native bush walk. A big thank you to all the Whanau who make the extra effort to pack a litterfree lunch. 

Next lesson we will analyse our results and compare them with last year.

2024 Stormwater Slueths

 Our 2024 Eco Warriors began their citizen science job of monitoring the Tread Lightly Stormwater Slueth Trap to see what effect Wakaaranga is having on our estuary. Last time the trap was monitored there were sadly 36 pieces of litter. 

We sorted the contents into leaves and litter.  The litter was surprising! There was a $1 coin and a metal K as well as a Mobilo block and a dice. There was of course the usual food wrapper items. We were so happy to see that there was only 17 litter items altogether this time.

How could we further reduce the litter going down the drain from Wakaaranga?

Harvey - Encourage more people to bring litterfree lunches

Izzabella - we could make a slide show to show the classes what's in the drain and where it will go

Samuel - we could do a litterfree lunch competition

Harvey - we could put up posters around the school to encourage keeping the drain clean

Samadhi - we could put on a show

Stay tuned for our stormwater action!

Our Estuary Monitoring Trip with Frazer, Cate & Kylee

More photos Estuary Trip 12/12/23

Today the Pestfree Cadets were lucky enough to visit the Wakaaranga Creek with Frazer, Cate and Kylee - experts from Sustainable Schools. We wanted to gather more information about what lives at our local estuary.

Here is a our survey data:

12/12/23

9:15am - 10:15am

Wakaaranga Creek by the Ropello Entrance

Cloudy & windy

Birds we observed:

pukeko

pied shag

tui

sparrow

swallow

white faced heron

black backed gull

seagull

blackbirds

duck

starling

piwakawaka

tern

Sadly no kingfishers, godwits or oyster catchers

Are pests, human activity or pets a factor?

We noticed what nature was telling us.

The mangroves were not there when the creek was used as the resting place of the canoe.  We wondered why they are there now.

The pohutukawas were in flower and the puriri were covered in berries.

We have taken a water sample so that it can be EDNA tested.  This will tell us what is living in our estuary. When creatures move through the environment they leave traces of their DNA. Scientists will analyse our sample and send us the results.  We can add that to our estuary inquiry.

This trip will help inform our inquiry and actions in 2024.

Thank you for an amazing trip Cate, Kylee, and Frazer.

Our Final Stormwater Sleuthing Session for 2024

Today the Eco Leaders had their final storm water sleuthing session with Monique.  We monitor one playground drain to see how Wakaaranga is contributing to litter in our environment.  Sadly Monique was amazed (and not in a good way), at how much litter was in the drain trap.  

A quick lunchtime litter hunt also showed that lunchbox litter continues to be a big problem. Do you pack a litterfree lunch? It's just so easy for tricky packets and wraps to float out of your lunchboxes.  All the waste goes into our storm drain and straight to our estuary then out to sea.  

The Eco Warriors reflected on our projects 2023 findings and what could be done in 2024 to mitigate our impact on the marine environment.

We finished these sentences:

1. At our school litter is .....

- it's something we try to prevent

- illegal - you may not litter in this school because it effects our planet not just the school

- a big problem due to litter in the drain

- unwelcome because it pollutes the earth

2. Through monitoring the storm water trap I have learned ...

- that people throw a lot of rubbish into the drains

- people throw not just rubbish in the drain but sticks bark and random stuff

- that it is weird to be too lazy to walk to the bin but they play sports and stuff

- people are littering on purpose and that's causing a lot of litter in our creek.

3. The thing that I think would make the biggest difference to litter at our school is ...

- adding more rubbish bins and drain traps and talking about it at assembly

- having a litterfree lunch, picking up your rubbish and/or keeping it in their lunchbox

- people not littering

-If we had a big lesson on what happens to our litter and go to the Waka Creek.

- Learn why the littering is bad and how it effects the turtles

- If everyone takes turns emptying the drain trap they will see it and be the ones tidying it up

- The big kids should teach the little kids 

We are going to share our findings with the community and in 2024 we want to expand this project to a whole Year Six inquiry, so we can have more of a positive impact.

Eco Warriors Stormwater Sleuth Fieldtrip

Today our Eco Warriors took part in Estuary Monitoring as part of our Stormwater Sleuth Project.  We met Monique and Dom from Tread Lightly at the Wakaaranga Creek where our school drains come out.  This is where any litter going down the drain will end up.

We performed various scientific tests to monitor the creek's health and we recorded the data.

This is what we found:

Clarity - 45 - 60cm - OK

Dissolved Oxygen - 8 - 12 - OK

Nitrates - 2 - Not good

Nitrite - 0.15 - 0.3

Temperature - 22 - 23 degrees - OK

PH Level - 7 - Good

Phosphates - 1.5 high

Litter - lots of litter - 20 - 30 pieces - mostly plastic - mostly food packaging. Some paper.

Compared to last year the phosphate and nitrate levels were a concern.  Sadly last night's downpour may have caused a sewerage spill.

There were lots of weeds in the creek compared to last year.

In 2024 we are going to do a big inquiry into our estuary.  We'll keep monitoring our drain trap and repeat the tests we did today.

Thank you to everyone who packs a litter-free lunch.  You are helping to protect the estuary and moana.

Checkout more photos in this folder here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JFyFT2UNhjRbmbNK9