Brookvale Public School

On the 22nd of March, Year 6 went to a program called StreamWatch at Curl Curl Creek to test the water quality.

It is a very long process but quite fun. First we get large nets, with small holes in them to drain the water. Then we get large trays, ice cube trays for sorting different aquatic creatures, with spoons for taking them out.

To get started we piled up the leaves, twigs and rocks, which the aquatic animals were currently on (or on which we hoped they'd be) and filled it with water so they could swim around, making it easier to see them. some were very common, and some there were only one of. The rarer ones were more sensitive to pollution, so the more there were, the better the water quality was, the common ones were resistant or very resistant. One of the rare ones we found include a Tadpole! There were things like bloodworms, bugs (lots of them), snails and larvae. We found a mayfly nymph, which is a type of larvae.

The end result was Good quality, the 2nd best you could get. Then we had to do some other tests. Turbidity, was how clear the water was. Salinity levels, how much salt there was (since this was fresh water and could only support freshwater creatures, if there was too much salt, freshwater creatures would die, making the result worse). Acidity (how much acid there was) and Temperature.

It was real cool because he let us do most of the tests! It was a great day.

On the 22nd of March Year 6 dis StreamWatch. StreamWatch is when a group people go to their local lake, creek or brook and test how good the water is and what bugs lives in it.

We went to a creek and sampled some bugs and we filled a worksheet out that told us what bugs they were. We looked at some sheets that showed what the different creatures were and about how clean the water is.

Then some of us that did StreamWatch training before tested the water acidity, clarity and the water temperature and the tests showed the water was clean.

After that we went back to school before lunch, it was a fun day.