We were fortunate to be invited to present our water quality monitoring prototypes to a group of high and middle school teachers at the West Creek Watershed Stewardship Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Organized by Jim Bader from Case Western Reserve, a group of expert STEM educators met for 4 hours to learn about our system, review the features and test them in the field. GaiaXus was represented by Abigail Reeves (Education Outreach Manager) and Dietrich Ruehlmann (CEO).
The objective of the session was to demonstrate the integrated water quality systems that GaiaXus is developing. The system consists of a small, portable device containing sensors for water temperature, salinity (TDS), water depth, and turbidity measured by nephelometry. The system is designed specifically for K12 education and citizen science use. The sensors are connected to GaiaXus’ secure app where sensor data and educational content create a combined learning experience. Students discover the value of scientific exploration in context with the customized curriculum.
The classroom exercises included a demonstration of the systems with prepared clean, salty, and turbid water. The sensor probe is simply submerged and readings are generated automatically, in contrast to reagent-based systems where pipetting and visual assessment can distract from the learning experience.
The session moved to the field where educators paired up and explored the adjacent wetlands and the nearby West Creek. The wetlands are designated storm management features and form a natural habitat for a wide array of native plants and wildlife. Birdspotters were active in the park during the illustrating the value of the center for its community.
The wetlands provided safe access to shallow water from the wooden walkway and allowed participants to “dip” the sensor just below the surface. Floating plant debris elevated the turbidity but had no impact on the function of the system.
The team then moved to the creek itself, where safe access was assured by a shallow bank, ~200m downstream of the watershed center. Educators used the feature of the GaiaXus system to “fling” the device into the deepest part of the creek. For this purpose, the sensor device is hooked to a mesh bag filled with river rocks – providing a fun, safe, and sustainable way to weigh the sensor and place it in deeper portions of the waterway from a safe access point without waders.
Typical of an outdoor classroom, internet access was not available by the creek itself. The GaiaXus App stores the acquired data until a Wifi Hotspot is available and then uploads GPS-indexed files. GPS tracking allows the automatic integration of cloud-based mapping and analysis services such as ESRI’s ArcGIS.
The wetlands locations (locations A and B) showed significantly lower salinity (TDS) than the creek itself (location C). This illustrates the dramatic effect that road salting can have, a previous snow storm followed by a rainstorm significantly contaminated West Creek with salt.
Hopefully, citizen science and K12 projects will create a greater awareness and vigilance when it comes to appropriate use of road treatments during winter storms. GaiaXus strives to facilitate environmental engagement with sensors, content and pursuit of contextual education.
A great Thank You to the team, Jim Bader to set it up, expert educators from the region and the amazing team from the West Creek Watershed Center. We are looking forward to returning, start pilots and work with students across the Buckeye State!