Charleroi schools obtain grants, check water quality
Charleroi students monitor water quality at five area streams. On Thursday, Washington County commissioners recognized Howard Johnson, middle school life science and environmental studies teacher, and his students for their work.
Charleroi students from grades seven through 12 monitor quality of five area streams, using a screen to lift from the water and identify macroinvertebrates, an indicator of a waterway’s health.
The Lower Monongahela Watershed has long been a conduit for both industry and farming, but for the past year, middle and high school students from Charleroi Area School District have been monitoring the quality of its water for Washington County Conservation District.
On Thursday, Washington County commissioners recognized Howard Johnson, middle school life science and environmental studies teacher, and his students, who measure total dissolved oxygen, the rate of flow, and the pH of the water, stream bank erosion and the presence of water-dwellers known as macroinvertebrates.
The diversity of species serves as an indication of good water quality.
Johnson said he worked with Superintendent Edward Zelich in applying for grant money, which eventually resulted in $25,000 from EQT Corp. and $2,500 apiece from the Washington County Community Foundation and the McKeesport-based Consortium for Public Education.
Generally, older students work with surveying equipment used to monitor stream-bank erosion, and all students use tablet computers and what Johnson described as “top-shelf meters and probes.”
The Charleroi students plan to expand their stream monitoring to include the summer months at the five streams on which they report: Pike Run and Little Pike Run, and Pigeon, Maple and Mingo creeks.
Jennifer Dann, watershed specialist for the Washington County Conservation District in Meadow Lands, said other school groups work on similar projects in other areas, “but, the level that Howard is able to work with the students and the amount of opportunities he’s been able to give them is really above and beyond the level of the other schools.
“Surveying equipment that the kids have access to – I haven’t even used that equipment – so it’s really unique that the students are able to get their hands on” tools that are technologically advanced and expensive.
“Howard was able to pull all this together and really bring the level of what he’s doing up to top-notch,” Dann said. She has to look at the data carefully because different students are working on various measurements, and human error can occur. But, so far, the results are consistently showing Mingo Creek’s good condition, while the other streams are more polluted.
Even this has its benefits in an academic exercise because, “It’s great for the students to be able to compare the quality of water flowing through the five streams,” Dann said.