Accelerated Student Internship Appeal from Gene Wicks, Page 2

Mr. Wicks gave a presentation at the “Michigan Science Teachers Association 51st Annual Conference” on March 5, 2004 at Lansing, MI.

Session Title: Two Collaborative Water Quality Projects.

Session Description: Eighty Eastern Upper Peninsula high school students studied either the effect of artesian wells on the Munuscong River or biological contamination in nearby Lake Huron surface waters.

Detailed Description:

During 2000-2001, a total of 22 environmental science students from Rudyard and Pickford High Schools participated in a collaborative project studying the effect of over 200 artesian wells on the Munuscong River Watershed. Throughout the watershed area, artesian wells provide predominately rural households with drinking water. However, past well-drilling practices have left many of these artesian wells uncapped and continuously flowing with some wells discharging over 5000 gal/hr. Health department officials have recently identified large sink holes forming in some areas presumably due to the uncontrolled flows. There is concern that the sink holes and the release of mud, silt, and water from the wells may cause irreparable environmental damage to the Munuscong River and its tributaries. The high school students and two, university senior thesis students performed field work to assess the problem. They used well log records and personal travel to estimate the number of flowing wells. They also determined the volume of water flowing from a sample of them. In addition, they performed chemical analyses (pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, and coliform testing) in an attempt to understand the artesian wells' environmental impact on the watershed.

During 2002-2003, a total of 58 high school science students from LSSU's Upward Bound Program and Cedarville's Les Cheneaux High School studied biological contamination in surface waters at Les Cheneaux Islands' area beaches. The small communities of Cedarville and Hessel are located in the project area. The year-round population is approximately 2000 people with a large increase in number of summer residents. This seasonal population increase combined with the intense recreational use of the area's surface waters has raised questions about the bacteriological quality of the water. At the time of the project, there was no ongoing bathing beach monitoring program so there was no way of knowing whether recommended bacteriological contamination levels were being exceeded. The students tested for E. coli, total coliform, pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels at five bathing beaches and a control site. Results raised concern for two of the sites. Both the Cedarville and McKay Bay Boat Launches had summertime total coliform and E. coli levels above the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) beach limits. In 2004, the project was extended by 25 Sault Area High School students. Further study is underway.

The project partners are given below. Teacher and student evaluations for both projects were quite positive showing enthusiastic support for future cooperative projects of this type.

(1) Rudyard High School (5) Lake Superior State University

(2) Pickford High School (6) Chippewa County Health Department

(3) Les Cheneaux High School (7) LMAS District Health Department

(4) Sault Area High School (8) Munuscong River Watershed Assoc.

This water quality work was funded by two Region 5 EPA Environmental Education grants:

(1) 2000-2001 "An Evaluation of the Munuscong River Watershed"

(2) 2002-2003 "Biological Contamination in Surface Waters Near the Les Cheneaux Islands Area"

I am a co-author for both grants, and I directed the field work involving the high school students. The principal investigator was Dr. Barb Keller (LSSU Chemistry and Environmental Science Dept.) for both grants, and Michelle Ribant (EUPISD Math/Science Center Director) was an additional coauthor.