Over the past year, Surfrider has been building capacity for water quality monitoring on the North Coast through the help of dedicated volunteers and funding from the Oregon Community Foundation.
In February 2017, the North Coast BWTF Lab was moved to Seaside High School (SHS), improving volunteer logistics and allowing for the expansion of our testing sites to include monitoring water quality on three additional coastal rivers - the Necanicum, Neacoxie and Neawana - which are often collected by the students themselves. The improved facilities make for a better learning atmosphere and engages students in water quality monitoring. Since the lab was moved, approximately 95 high school students and 12 local citizen volunteers have been trained to collect and process local beach and creek water for bacteria.
The SHS lab is running year round with students involved during the summer months, collecting and processing water samples. The partnership with the school has led to more opportunities for engaging with large groups of students and teachers, both inside and outside the lab. Our teacher partner, Doug Mitchell, is a positive force, encouraging his students to engage in the BWTF program and to think critically about water quality. Jesse Jones, North Coast Blue Water Task Force Coordinator, has remained dedicated to the North Coast BWTF for many years, building, maintaining, and growing the program. We are lucky to have them both!
In our interactions with students, we learned how few Seaside High School students have visited or have knowledge of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve or Oswald West State Park - 15 miles south of the school. Oswald West is one of the most visited state parks in Oregon, and the North Coast BWTF has partnered with state parks to improve septic facilities and hold clean-ups and educational events. In the summer of 2017, Jesse took a student intern, a Seaside native, into the park for his first visit. One of the amazing benefits of the BWTF program is it builds connections between students and their local beaches - even if they haven't yet visited them.
Check out some pictures of the North Coast BWTF Lab in action!
Seaside High School students visit a local beach to collect water samples for a training on how to use the water quality monitoring equipment back in their classroom.
Students collect water samples at one of the new river sites near the school.
A student reads the water temperature at one of the ocean sites.
Jesse Jones, North Coast Blue Water Task Force Coordinator, trains a new group of students on how to process water samples.
A student places samples in the incubator.
A student is trained to read water quality samples and report on the results.