Switching to Eco Friendly Cleaning Products

2014 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

If you can’t pronounce the ingredients in cleaning products, how can you tell if they’re going to be safe? Stacey Amos and Tristan Harper wondered this when they started looking at the types of cleaning products found in schools.

“We need to think about the impact on our water because all of these liquids end up going down the drain. These lead to our waters, and include chemicals such as loramine oxine, myristamine oxide, and styrene. How do we know these are safe for our lakes if we can’t even pronounce it?”

The team proposing switching their school’s cleaning products to eco-friendly versions that don’t contain harmful ingredients. Thanks to Nutrien, they were able to purchase classroom kits of cleaning products and re-usable cloths. This means “safer products and less pollution. Time to get cleaning!”

Water Quality Testing

2014 Peguis First Nation, Manitoba, Canada

In 2013, Lake Winnipeg was named the most threatened lake in the world. For students at Peguis Central School, water quality is an especially important issue. These students live near Lake Winnipeg, and along the Fisher River which feeds into the lake. Kayla and Kelly are learning how nitrates and phosphates could affect the lake.

“Our project is to conduct scientific testing on the Fisher River to see whether it is a significant contributor to algal blooms, which have occurred on Lake Winnipeg.”

This project is part of a multi-year initiative that the school is taking to look at the Fisher River, and determine how it relates to Lake Winnipeg. The goal for these students is to obtain ten-years of data, so they can see if and how the water quality changes over time. Next year, Kelly and Kayla will be mentoring younger students at their school so that the project can carry on once the girls graduate. Thanks to Nutrien, they were able to purchase a new test kit to continue their research!

Pharmaceuticals in our Water

2014 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Maggie Reid from Greystone Heights School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, proposed the idea of putting up posters at her local neighbourhood grocery stores and pharmacies to inform and educate Saskatonians on the proper way and appropriate locations to dispose of pharmaceutical products. In her proposal, Maggie made the connection that when you turn on the tap and fill your glass with water, that water may still have traces of medications and pharmaceuticals in it.
In Maggie’s research she found that although waste water treatment plants can remove many chemicals and foreign materials, active drug compounds are not eliminated and can collect in our rivers, lakes and ground water. When these chemicals collect in water bodies they have the potential to impact the fish, wildlife, and other organisms living within aquatic ecosystems. Expired or unused pharmaceuticals have certain chemical properties that may disrupt the proper function of hormone systems and can be attributed to causing fish to change sexes from male to female during sensitive stages of development. This has consequences for breeding and maintaining healthy fish populations in our rivers and lakes. Not to mention, we drink this water ourselves! This was a problem that Maggie felt strongly about.

She discovered that people still currently flush un-used medications or pharmaceuticals down the toilet in order to keep their children or pets from ingesting them. Maggie felt the solution to this problem was to raise awareness. If people knew that the South Saskatchewan River that they loved was becoming increasingly filled with chemicals from the improper disposal of pharmaceuticals, they would think twice the next time they went to flush their pills down the toilet! She discovered that there was an easy alternative available for the safe disposal of these items. All peopled needed to do was return expired and unused pharmaceuticals to their local pharmacy where there are policies to safely dispose of them. Maggie took action to implement her project and received permission to put up posters at Extra Foods’ pharmacies and the Coop pharmacies within her neighbourhood. The posters communicated information in a fun and simple way through graphics that Maggie drew by hand. The participating pharmacies were delighted to put up Maggie’s posters and were happy that she was taking the initiative to improve her watershed through the Caring for our Watersheds program!

International Rain Barrel Giveaway

image1-2 Rain barrels are designed to collect water, but one distinctive rain barrel designed by students at Daysland School in central Alberta is garnering just as much attention as it is water.

Butterflies, toads, dragonflies and other flora and fauna help depict a healthy watershed on a rain barrel designed by 20 students from grades five to 12 at Daysland School. It also helped the classroom win $1,000 through an international rain barrel giveaway and art contest sponsored by Nutrien’s Caring for our Watersheds (“CFW”) program.

Awareness Campaign: Use of Agrochemicals

2014, San Antonio de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This project proposes the implementation of an awareness campaign directed at both farmers and the community. The purpose of the campaign is to inform everyone about the benefits and the dangers associated with the use of agrochemicals in food production and residential use.

The campaign emphasizes the use of new products that have low environmental impact (green lines) to control pests/disease. In their presentation, the students stressed that choosing “green band” agrochemicals is not much more expensive than using ordinary products, and provide large benefit to the environment.

In their “final year” science fair the students prepared a Caring for our Watersheds stand where they distributed surveys inquiring about the use of chemical products at home, and where these products were stored. The students also distributed an awareness CD to the farmers provided by CIAFA (An Argentine industry Cham of fertilizer and agrochemical).

The overall aim was to raise awareness, and make everyone more conscientious about the use of chemicals at their homes and farms.

Measuring the Level of Areco River

2014, Carmen de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This high school, with a specialization in electronics, proposed the creation and implementation of a wireless system used to collect data on the San Antonio River flow levels.

Through a collective workshop of teachers and students they designed an ultrasonic sensor for measuring water level. This project was implemented in collaboration with the “Open Electronics Laboratory of the Department of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires” (LABI-UBA).

Save the Stinkin’ Slough

2013 Crystal City, Manitoba, Canada

Austin Hudson from Thomas Greenway Middle School was frustrated with people’s lack of knowledge regarding the importance of keeping our watersheds healthy. more specifically, the fact sloughs and other wetlands were being drained on farmer’s fields when they provide such benefit was something wanted to talk about. As his family relies on farming, he could understand the drive to maximize production, but at what cost?

?My solution to this seemly huge issue is education. I will make a wetland diorama and a PowerPoint, called “Save the Stinkin’ Slough.” These will be sent to local schools to tell the kids about how important wetlands are to a watershed. once the kids have seen the presentation they will be given a small test or feedback sheet to show what they have learned. By doing this you can educate young kids who will tell their parents about the usefulness of wetlands. Hopefully the older generation will start thinking, hey those useless pieces of land are actually useful just the way they are! Then those adults will tell other adults. So by educating young people we can maybe save some of the wetlands in our watershed. it wouldn’t take much to do this idea and I think this project will work by educating people on this serious problem and helping them know how to fix it.”

Austin did develop his PowerPoint and thanks to a $1500 contribution from Nutrien also purchased an “Enviroscape” watershed model which will be circulated throughout his and neighboring community school to help spread the word.

He says that the diorama is “very cool and way better than I expected, all the kids in the school were so excited to see it; they all wanted a demonstration.” This was a bit scary for Austin but when it was over he said “I’m glad I did it, Tabitha was a huge help and I learned lots from the other presentations.? Thanks again for this program and providing this experience to so many kids!

Rain Garden Brochures

2013 Virden, Manitoba, Canada

Emma Jankovics lives in the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District which is 4208 square miles and has a population of about 6500 people. The district is located in prairie area where the main sources of water are from rivers, lakes and rain water.

As her contribution to our water system “which sustains all living things,” she proposed a way to better sustain it.

“Water is being filled with the runoff from rain water, which along its path collects various pollutants. All of these pollutants end up in the water we swim in, and shower with, and drink. Which means extra work needs to be done to make the water safe and clean. The runoff also causes erosion which can lead to more major flooding. My idea is a small step in the right direction that can help the environment and the local people.

I want to improve the watershed I live in by producing informational brochures educating the community on the benefits of a rain garden to the watershed, and to their homes.”

A Raingarden for I-75 Runoff

2013 Arlington Heights, Ohio, USA
Rain Garden Run Off
A group of three students (Julia Love, Janae McClair and Sanoma Capps) who attend Arlington heights Academy submitted a proposal called “A Rain Garden for I-75 Runoff” to Nutrien’s Caring for our Watersheds contest during the first Ohio competition in 2011-2012. They came in first place!

After the final competition, they met with Wes Duran from Marvin’s Organic Gardens in the fall of 2012 to design and plan implementation of their rain garden. Students worked on determining the plant types, plant numbers and design layout. They also worked on the budget and set a date to start planting. Their budget was $2,00 with one half coming from Nutrien’s grant the students won and the other half a matching grant from Groundwork Cincinnati – Mill Creek, a local non-profit group dedicated to the restoration of the Mill Creek. The date they chose to plant the garden was March 21st, 2013.

Before the studetn’s knew it, it was March and time to plant. It didn’t take long to complete the project that they had been anxiously waiting for; to have their proposal become a reality. With the help of their classmates and the support from their community, the rain garden was completed!

This is a perfect example of how one idea can truly make a difference through hard work and determination. Though the work is done and students will graduate and move on, the teachers and community will continue to care for the rain garden. For instance, they will be responsible for watering the rain garden in the summer and make sure the plants are thriving. Any dead plants will be replaced to maintain the design and function of the garden.

We even have a video of our planting!

Pick Up the Poo!

2013 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Benjamin Gresty and Jaxon Lalonde are enrolled in the Eco-Justice environmental and adventure program at St. Edward School. Their proposal for the Caring for our Watersheds competition looked at the problems to the river and surrounding area caused by the failure of people to pick up after their pets. Chances are, if you are a dog owner, you have done the dirty deed of not cleaning up after your dog once or twice. Many people think this is not a big deal. Some even feel that dog waste can act as another kind of fertilizer. This is not the case! When dog waste washes into our local water ways it has negative effects for our South Saskatchewan River Watershed.

When dog owners don’t clean up their dog’s poop, it Student photo - pick up the poo student action project can leach into soil and with it, harmful disease causing micro-organisms like round worms, E. Coli and Giardia that can live in dog feces. This puts children who play outside and adults who garden at risk of these infectious organisms. If dog waste is washed into the storm drains it ends up in lakes, rivers, streams or marine water. People can accidentally swallow its bacteria and other disease-causing organisms while swimming or playing in the water. It can even contaminate ground water!

Dog feces contains nutrients like phosphates and nitrogen that encourage the growth of algae and aquatic plants and is also known to carry terrible diseases such as Whipworm, Hookworm, Tapeworm, Parvovirus, Beaver Fever, Salmonella, and E.coli. Said nutrients and pollutants have caused a major algae growth and pollution problem in Lake Winnipeg, giving it the title of 2013’s most threatened lake.

Jaxon and Benjamin decided to clean up dog feces in a local park and hand out bags to dog owners to raise awareness about how dog poop can affect our watershed

To further spread the information about the problems of dog waste, the students started a “poopagenda” poster campaign in off-leash parks, at bus stops and on lampposts. They have also started working with the City of Saskatoon to have permanent signs installed to educate the public about the potential harm caused by unscooped waste. Picking up the (dog) poo is one small and simple step to a much cleaner watershed!