City of Camrose
Water Watchdog Program

Water Watchdog

The Water Watchdog Program is an initiative of "Partners for the Saskatchewan River Basin". This program encourages participants to take action by testing and reporting on the quality of the water in their own backyard streams and rivers, lakes and ponds.

• build connections to real nature
• understand ecological concepts
• learn how to evaluate a situation

Why Survey the Site?

• Appreciate what these areas do for us
• Check creek conditions, and discover ways to protect what we have
• See over time improvements, or areas that need more attention
• Camrose Creek flows through Camrose. It flows through us too. It flows through every living thing. What we do to ourselves and all living things.

Students Take Action

• walked to a site along Camrose Creek
  
  
• good exercise, and environmentally friendly
  
  
• collected garbage along the way (little actions can make a big difference)
  
  
• "I can't believe I learned so much and I wasn't even in school. This is so much fun."
  
  
• "This field trip changed the whole way I think. I used to think nature wasn't really all that important. And I used to think that garbage wasn't a big deal. But when everybody is making garbage, it is a big deal."

We Are All Stewards

• Much history happened along Camrose Creek
  
  
  • hydro power
  • railway
  • coal mining
  • soldier training
  • tannery
    
    
• Over the years, much has changed
  
  
  • how we use water
  • how much water we use
  • how many people use the water
  • what has happened to nature, and to our water quality
    
    

Safe Drinking Water is Everyone's Responsibility

You

• Never go near water without an adult
• Stay inside the boundaries ans stay with your group
• Do not drink the water
• Watch for danger such as slippery slopes, thorny plants, sharp objects
• Wash your hands after

The Site

• Protect the home of plants and animals (use trails as much as possible and be quiet(
• Watch for ground nesting birds
• Do not pick flowers or dig up plants
• Replace rocks and anything else you move (it might be an animal's home)
• Try not to cause bank or soil erosion
• No souvenirs
• Do not litter

Wild animals are signs of healthy riparian habitat.

Students list animals seen in and around water

Students also take note of signs of animals: trails, tracks, chewed plants, droppings, nests, burrows

Students Note:

How Camrose Creek is connected to other bodies of water How humans have made changes Type of soil, and signs of erosion

Students also note types of plants in the riparian area and in the aquatic area.
	Plant Cover: helps prevent bank and shore erosion breaks down pesticides uses fertilizers that are in runoff water provides habitat for animals shades and cools the land and water
When everything is working the way it should we end up with clean drinking water, healthy plants and animals, water for agriculture, good soil, beauty, recreation, A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT.

Is the water in Camrose Creek safe for living things?

Students Check: water turbidity (clear), temperature, pH (8.5), and nitrate levels (negligible).

"The water in Mirror Lake is so clean. I thought it was dirty but it isn't. The water in the creek looks dark, so I thought it was dirty. But now I see it is clear. "My mom always tells me the"

Bringing it Home

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