PHOTOS: Grade 6 Science Students Visit San Juan Creek to Study Water Quality

The wet winter has nearby San Juan Creek flowing, so St. Margaret’s grade 6 science students visited the creek last week to do a field science lesson—and a little community service.

The students in Amanda Hudson’s class are doing a unit on freshwater and water pollution. While doing a project that looks at water quality data to determine pollutants in a watershed, the students walked over to the creek to test the flowing water making its way toward the Pacific Ocean.

While at the creek, students took water samples and used equipment to test pH, dissolved oxygen, water clarity and temperature to get insight on overall quality. Using Google Earth, students could see where the water is coming from and identify any potential sources of pollution along its route to Doheny Beach.

While the students were there, they also grabbed a trash bag and worked on cleaning up the shoreline and ridding it of trash that could otherwise get swept away by the water flow and make its way down to the ocean.