Stormwater Superheroes Learn To Protect Local Watershed

Press release from the Three Village Central School District:

Feb. 3, 2023

Nassakeag Elementary School fifth graders in the Three Village Central School District are “Stormwater Superheroes” after learning how to protect local bays and watersheds. The Cornell Cooperative Extension pushed into classes on Jan. 24 for an interactive lab where students discovered how various types of pollution makes their way to the bay and ocean, ultimately affecting local marine life.

Students helped build a model of a storm drain system to visualize how pollutants connect to waterways. Students volunteered to pour colored water down the pipe system. The different colored water symbolized pollutants including fertilizer, motor oil and household chemicals. At the end, students saw how the pollutants mixed together and drained into a bucket of clean water.

At the end of the lab, students learned about how this affects local marine life. They were able to interact with a live horseshoe crab, an animal that has been on the planet before dinosaurs even existed. They learned the importance of protecting these animals and the steps to take in order to do so.

This press release was produced by the Three Village Central School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.