GIA Update: April 2011

"H2O and You"

South Royalton School - South Royalton, Vermont, U.S.
Shevah Mofet High School - Tel Aviv, Israel

• H2O and You are working on issues surrounding water pollution and conservation.
• Facebook Page name: "H2O and You (GIA Tel Aviv - S. Royalton)"
• Facebook Page link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/H2O-You-GIA-Tel-Aviv-S-Royalton/124952637567272

• Facebook Page Statistics: 86 "Likes;" 2 photo albums

• Service Project Date: April 29, 2011

• • Planting riparian buffer zone along the riverbank, incorporating school property and the town athletic field. More details to follow.

• April 26, 2011 - South Royalton students will be going to the state capital in Montpelier to meet with a legislative consultant, who is recognizing the students at the State House.
• The students have been in regular contact with their counterparts in Tel Aviv, Israel through Facebook conversations and individual emails.
• South Royalton student visiting Shevah Mofet during Passover!

• Service Project Date: Between April 27 - May 3, 2011

• • Yarkon River clean-up day! More details to follow.

• On Monday, March 28, 2011, the students went into 7th-9th grade classrooms to explain about GIA and to recruit students for volunteer day.
• The students have been scheduled to give a presentation to each grade in their school (except grades 11 and 12 as of yet) about their project to encourage them to help keep the Yarkon River clean. They are also trying to get more students to join their Facebook page.
• Students will visit the Yarkon River in the coming weeks to survey how polluted it is and possibly engage in the clean-up efforts.
• If possible, the students will take water samples from the Yarkon River, analyze it with their chemistry teacher, and possible compare it to water samples from a couple of years ago.

GIA Midterm Update: January 20, 2011

"H2O and You"

South Royalton School - South Royalton, Vermont, U.S.
Shevah Mofet High School - Tel Aviv, Israel

• H2O and You are working on issues surrounding water pollution and conservation.
• Facebook Page name: "H2O and You (GIA Tel Aviv - S. Royalton)"
• Facebook Page link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/H2O-You-GIA-Tel-Aviv-S-Royalton/124952637567272

• Facebook Page Statistics: 86 "Likes;" 2 photo albums

• Mary Russ - Member of the White River Partnership. Russ gave a presentation on the three major issues affecting the watershed at this time. She spoke about water contamination/pollution, invasive algae and plant species as well as using water insects to measure the pollution levels in the water.
• Evan Ellerson - Science teacher. He was involved in the planting of a riparian buffer zone in the South Royalton area some years back and gave students insight as to where they planted and why the clippings failed.
• Rose Kent - Biology teacher. She spoke about various methods involved in removing pollution from the water. She steered them in the direction of Riparian water buffers, which removes pollutants before they reach the river.

• Jenna Guarino - a local watershed educator who has worked with citizen groups and school groups to set up water monitoring programs internationally. Provided Internet leads for resources.
• Nate Clevland - Town Administrator who can provide information per storm drains and waste water systems.

• Historical Perspectives (UVM Landscape Project, Elizabeth Faery - town records of former garbage dump, now Carpenter Field (by river), and John Dumville - historic photos
• Arbor Day Foundation, VT Natural Resources, Vermont's River Gravel Extraction Policy.
• Engineering Ventures, Inc., per engineering design of water flow and reservoir system at AVA Gallerty and Art Center and CRREL per research via factory-scale river models.

• Idea 1: Locate and plant an area where pollution often runs into the river near the school and town. Encourage others to participate in 'buffer zone' planting in their areas. The trees will not only remove many of the excessive nutrients, they can also protect the bank from erosion into the river.
• Idea 2: Research where the manhole (storm drains) runoff for towns goes. If, as they believe it does, it goes into the river, they want to raise awareness so people think twice before dumping thoughtlessly.
• Other ideas which were discussed but determined that one of the above may be better achieved and were more on target to goals: pubic relations campaigns to slow the spread of invasive species and pollution; in-water filter systems (discovered riparian buffer zones accomplish this); educating water-tubers who float down various rivers in the summer; educate farmers (already being worked on by others); water monitoring of macroinvertebrates (indicator of water quality) or water testing - but determined that this is harder to educate others about.

• Key Issue: Water pollution, specifically of the Yarkon River - a very important source of drinking water for the Tel Aviv community.
• Have had multiple Skype meetings with South Royalton students and decided together what to research
• Met with two experts in water - a biology and a chemistry teacher - and decided to concentrate their work on the Yarkon River, a very important river in Israel that crosses Tel Aviv before flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. It is very polluted, which has caused multiple disasters to occur in the community as a result.
• The students are conducting an experiment with the water from different points in the river and tap water.
• After the initial research, the team plans to propose workable solutions to the pollution crisis and raise community awareness of the issue.