About 80 middle and high school students will collect and test water samples from the Bayou Vermilion on Wednesday as part of the Drains to Coast program spearheaded by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Students from Comeaux High School, the David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy and Lafayette High School will gauge water quality by analyzing factors such as oxygen levels and temperature.
The environmental education project will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Vermilionville Living History and Folk Life Park. The park, which is operated by the Lafayette Parish Bayou Vermilion District, is at 300 Fisher Road in Lafayette.
“Students do water quality analysis on the dock with test kits,” said Dr. Whitney Broussard, a research scientist at the University’s Institute for Coastal Ecology and Engineering. The Institute fosters research on the restoration of the nation’s wetlands and estuaries.
The fieldwork is designed to teach students about water quality and the importance of preserving coastal ecosystems.
“The goal is twofold: to reinforce basic principles of chemistry, ecology and environmental science that are learned in the classroom and emphasize the importance of coastal conservation as a whole,” Broussard said.
The Drains to Coast project is funded by a $99,121 grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Bay-Watershed Education and Training Program.
Altogether, about 600 students from Lafayette Parish schools are expected to participate in the two-year program, said Broussard, who is the grant’s principal investigator.
The Drains to Coast program involves collaboration among the Bayou Vermilion District, Lafayette Parish School System, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.
Learn more about the Institute for Coastal Ecology at icee.louisiana.edu.
Photo courtesy of Bayou Vermilion District