The Essex Region Conservation Authority initiated an educational program this year, aimed at teaching high school students about the use of benthic invertebrates in water quality monitoring. Benthic invertebrates are the critters that live on, and in, the sediment at the bottom of waterbodies. Depending on the species found in a location, inferences can be made about water quality in that waterbody. The Detroit River Canadian Cleanup joined ERCA in classrooms at Maranatha Christian Academy, Walkerville Collegiate Institute and Tecumseh Vista Academy to teach students about the Detroit River Area of Concern, our Remedial Action Plan, and the Degradation of Benthos Beneficial Use Impairment.
Students then went out into the Detroit River watershed and put what they’d learned to use! Samples were collected from River Canard and one of its tributaries and brought back to the classroom so students could try their hand at invertebrate identification.
