Title:

G99-NPS-08 T.R.U.E. BLUE: Clean Water Celebration

Sponsor:

National Environmental Educ. and Training Foundation

Project Manager:

Jim Benz
734 Fifteenth Street NW, Suite 420
Washington, DC 20005
816-331-8202

Project Period:

4/1/1999 - 5/1/1999

319 Grant Funds:

$5,000

Project Description:

The Clean Water Celebration Project

The Teaching Rivers in and Urban Environment in the Blue River watershed (T.R.U.E. Blue) Clean Water Celebration is a one-day conference held on April 8, 1999. Students present their own research findings on water quality issues in the Kansas City Metropolitan area.

Attendance is expected to be 450 secondary students and teachers. Sixty percent of the students will be from Missouri schools. Others involved are area businesses, community members and agency personnel. This group of people will set up exhibits and gave presentations.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The T.R.U.E. Blue Clean Water Celebration serves as a culminating activity for the schools involved with the T.R.U. E. Blue projects. These projects involve protocols for the stream teams water quality monitoring that are based on the nationally acclaimed Missouri Stream Team model. Through the water quality monitoring effort students and teachers gain a greater awareness of nonpoint source pollution in their watershed. At the conference students will teach other students about their findings on the water quality in the segment of river in which they monitored using the protocol. The conference provides a means in which students and the community network to promote the preservation of clean, safe water. The Clean Water Celebration is also a prelude to the Lakeside National Centers Annual Blue River Clean-Up

OBJECTIVES

1. Improve environmental education of students
2. To increase the awareness of teachers, students and community members to both the needs for and their personal role in protection the local aquatic environment.
3. Education that will increase awareness of nonpoint source pollution in a post Clean Water Celebration survey.
4. Participation in The Friends of Lakeside Nature Center's Blue River Rescue IX will increase by 30%
5. School-based "Stream Teams" will be formed in and additional five school districts bringing the total of fifteen districts participating in the project through out the Kansas City Metropolitan area

PRODUCTS

1. Students and teachers will be surveyed prior to and after the Clean Water Celebration in order to determine change in their awareness of NPS pollutants.
2. Attendance records from this year's Blue River Rescue IX will be compared to the last three years attendance. Rescue participants will be asked upon registration if their involvement is a result of the Clean Water Celebration.
3. School-based "Stream Team " participation will be monitored through the Kansas Collaborative Research Network Web site at http//kanern.org.

PROJECT SPONSOR

James A. Benz and the Blue River Watershed Association

COOPERATING AGNECIES

Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, Wyandotte County Conservation District. Friend of Lakeside Nature Center, Allied Signal

CONTACT

404 Ranchero Place
Belton, MO 64012-3216
James A. Benz 816-331-820913-432-9121