ASSETS day three: Budding Indigenous scientists investigate water management

[ This article by Emma Lawrance, was published on December 19 2011, last updated on April 2 2012. ]

Friday 16 December 2011

Stacey Bridges (left)

Another action-packed day in the world of water science. First stop for the ASSETS bus was the Hope Valley Reservoir. Students went ‘behind the scenes’ to explore the process of water treatment from reservoir to tap. They enjoyed seeing the huge paddles and pipes used to move the water, and even got to go underneath the water to look up at the reservoir! The alarm bells set off by clouds of lime made for an even more exciting and memorable tour for the students!

Back at SA Water House students once again donned their ‘detective caps’ to solve the mystery of the problems with ‘Rivertown’s’ water supply. The CSIRO Chemistry in Action program allowed the students to test the water of ‘Rivertown’ for everything from nitrogen to sodium levels, herbicides and microorganisms. The students loved using the range of chemistry equipment and determining what the problems were, where they were coming from and how they might solve them! Usually aimed at Year 12 students, the high achieving ASSETS Year 10 students loved getting into the chemistry. Several groups chose to cut their lunch break short and stayed to learn more!

After refuelling at Adelaide’s fabulous Central Market (I may be biased), it was back to the job of brainstorming ideas for the water investigation project. Teams of inquisitive students came up with some fabulous questions to explore based on their experiences in the action-packed ASSETS days. From exploring possible relationships between the turbidity and nitrate levels in wetlands, to how much the temperature of lake water can be predicted by the infrared levels above it, the possibilities and questions were diverse. After carrying out the experiments, students will present their findings to a distinguished audience at RiAus next Wednesday.

I’m looking forward to witnessing what incredible water investigations the students will design and lead themselves next week, after a weekend of more water fun at the beach. And after the week they’ve had, I know the ASSETS students, like me, are thinking in a very different way about the water in the sea, in their taps, and (probably this weekend) coming from the sky!

By Emma Lawrance

Photography by Grant Nowell