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KINGFIELD – Third and fourth graders from MSAD 58 schools spent the day learning about the role of water in the environment Friday, taking part in several exercises managed by volunteers from the local Poland Spring bottling plant.
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Part of the national Water Education Day celebrations, organized by Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), the event is the latest of several educational programs offered by Poland Spring. Volunteers from the plant had students making rain sticks, acting as water molecules in an ecosystem and learning about erosion and run-off.
At one station, students built water filters in recycled water bottles. Using their choice of dirt, hay, gravel and other materials, students then were able to test their designs with dyed water. At another station, students designed buildings and homes, drawing them out and then discussing the possible impacts of their creations on the local streams and rivers.
Poland Spring Natural Resource Supervisor Mark LaPlante showed third grade students from Stratton and Kingfield how run-off can affect a lake, using droplets of green food coloring on a miniature town. Students then sprayed the model down with squirt bottles, and watched rivulets of green water flow out of lawns, roads and fields.
“So the town looks good,” LaPlante said, “nice and clean. But what happened to the lake here?”
“It turned green,” the students said in unison.
LaPlante then helped students brainstorm ideas to reduce the amount of material going into the rivers and streams. The number one pollutant, LaPlante told the students, was not gas or oil but was actually soil erosion, mostly from over-development near the water’s edge. Too much erosion leads to more phosphorus in the water, potentially creating oxygen-consuming “algae blooms.”
The program is designed to teach students about the environment and how to be good stewards. Other projects Poland Spring has run in the MSAD 58 system includes the trout release, where young fish are released into brooks and streams
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