COEUR d’ALENE - The neon green letter attracted passers-by to learn more about “Environmentally Friendly BMPs”.
In the world of water science, BMPs - best management practices - are ways to direct stormwater runoff. When atmospheric waters are managed in an environmentally friendly way, it makes the Earth happy, which in turn is good for its inhabitants.
This was the focus of a one-year project for Lake City High School students Riley Peite, Brock Ferguson and Jordan Packer, who enlightened the community on the subject on Wednesday during the Youth Summit on Water at Kootenai County Fairgrounds.
“We researched the effectiveness of vegetative buffer strips,” Riley said, showing research and informative notes she and her partners have included in their review.
“This project went very well,” she said. “It helped us more in the scientific process and to learn more about what you would do in your scientific career in the future.” I really liked the teamwork. “
Nearly 300 students from seven high schools presented their findings on a wide range of issues and potential solutions during the Youth Water Summit. This annual event is the culmination of the Confluence project, a one-year interactive water education initiative that encourages students to conduct personal interviews and collect data through field research. Partners from the University of Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene tribe, the Kootenai Environmental Alliance, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Panhandle Health and IdaH2O are teaming up for the Confluence project to promote practical experience, field data collection and higher education degrees in science.
Students choose topics related to water of local importance, such as atmospheric water pollution, water quality in lakes and streams, measurements of snow cover or impacts on the aquifer. They then present their work to the jury.
“Water can be complicated, but we’re trying to break it down into bite-sized pieces for these students,” said Jim Ekins, a water educator at the University of Idaho Extension. “We teach students real-world scientific principles and techniques to help them conduct their own research.”
Lake Pend Gymnasium Oreon Keona Stut and junior Tallulah Stafford specified that cigarette butts cause huge pollution in their project “Don’t be a fool”.
“It is the most common form of waste on the coast around the world,” Talullah said. “We were shocked at how serious this issue was in this area.”
Young scientists have made an environmentally friendly cigarette container, called “Stinky”, which is sealed with cement to prevent dirty water from leaking into groundwater.
“We wanted to reduce cigarette pollution by making a special container for cigarettes,” Keona said.
They shared that 80 percent of cigarettes on earth end up in local water sources. One cigarette per liter of water is the death penalty for freshwater fish.
“This is important, because you may not notice the effects at the moment, but attacking the problem at its source even before it becomes a problem is a better way,” Talulah said. “We don’t want it to get to the point where it’s irreversible.”
She said water is one of the three main things people need to survive.
“We are very happy that our lake is beautiful and we have really good water quality in our lake,” she said. “But the amount of cigarette butts you can find is large and quite unattractive, as well as polluting our coast. She goes all the way to the ocean. “
