Learn
Over the years, Oak Creek Watershed Council has hosted numerous opportunities for Verde Valley youth to engage in environmental stewardship by learning about human impacts on ecological health of their surrounding waterways. This year, OCWC will work with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s Mobile Water Quality Lab again to not only test for E.coli ; but teach students how to test for pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity. This will help convey the many different components to understanding water quality, and what stressors can impact each of these water quality measures. Newly to WQFD, this year OCWC will also include macroinvertebrate sampling into our curriculum. We will go over what a bioindicator is, and how macroinvertebrates can be an imperative indicator for water quality across the world and how they are key prey species in the riparian ecosystem food web. Students will have the ability to gain many different water quality sampling skills, in addition to understanding how increased sedimentation and pollutants from poor recreational practices can impact water quality and ecological health.
