Five classes from the Chêne-Bleu (Pincourt) and Les Navigateurs (Saint-Zotique) high schools benefited from the Haut Saint-Laurent ZIP Committee's J'adopte un cours d'eau water science initiation program.

“Based on science and citizen mobilization, the aim of the project is to inform, raise awareness and educate young people, citizens and local stakeholders about the vulnerability of watercourses to climate change, so that they can collectively commit to acquiring better knowledge of the impact of these changes on water sources and riparian ecosystems, and thus be better equipped to adapt to these various disturbances,” explains Caroline Côté-Larose, environmental project manager with the Haut Saint-Laurent ZIP Committee.

From September to November, 127 Secondary 1 and 4 students visited a local watercourse to describe the site, carry out physicochemical analyses and sample benthic macroinvertebrates (insect larvae, worms, crustaceans and molluscs living on the bottom of watercourses).

Students from the Chêne-Bleu school analyzed the St. Lawrence River in the Parc historique de la Pointe-du-Moulin area, while students from the École des Navigateurs observed the Rivière Delisle. 

These small organisms are extremely useful: in addition to providing food for numerous fish, birds and amphibians, they are indicators of the health of waterways. The physico-chemical analyses carried out during the Adopt a River activity measure seven parameters: temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, hardness, turbidity, nitrate and nitrite, and conductivity.

After accompanying the students in the field, the Haut Saint-Laurent ZIP Committee facilitator returned to the classroom, so that the students could understand the results of the tests carried out, and to reveal the biological health index of the watercourse studied. 

These educational activities were made possible thanks to financial assistance received from the Groupe d'éducation et d'écosurveillance de l'eau (G3E) program Des rivières surveillées, s'adapter pour l'avenir. “We would like to thank G3E for their invaluable financial support. Without this contribution, these educational activities for 5 groups of students would not have been possible,” said Ms. Côté-Larose, who hopes to find the necessary funding to offer the activity to five groups again next spring.

“We sincerely hope to find local partners,” she concludes.