Palmiet Catchment Schools event encourages learners to take up citizen science
Learners and teachers were shown how to get involved in monitoring river health at a recent workshop hosted by a Westville school.
THE Palmiet Catchment Schools event was held at the Deutsche Schule, Westville, on July 29.
The workshop for learners and educators aimed to create greater awareness of the importance of healthy rivers and the monitoring of river health through citizen science, beginning with the youth.
The afternoon’s activities were divided into four stations, each of which educated the children in important aspects of river health.
What did the programme cover?
Firstly, the learners were shown how to perform a miniSASS, a simplified version of the South African Scoring System (SASS). This is an important part of citizen science, where the average person can identify invertebrates and organisms seen in the river and calculate a score which results in a classification or condition of the river.
Secondly, the participants made a river catchment model which demonstrated how the water flows and how a catchment area works.
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The workshop then took the participants onto the banks of the Palmiet River, which flows on the boundary of the venue. Here, the learners investigated the invertebrates living in the river and used this to determine the health of the river system.
The final portion of the workshop involved catching dragonflies and other insects.
Why is river health important?
The Palmiet Catchment Schools Event was hosted by GroundTruth’s Charlene Russell and Catherine Meyer, with interns from the South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in attendance.
Meyer said, “The school’s initiative is part of our mission to engage and educate the community about river health – how they work and why they are important.”
It is important for residents and members of the public to become involved in monitoring river health.
She said, “When citizens complete a mini-SASS, where you look at insects and invertebrates living in the water, it tells the pollution story of the river.”
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The citizen entries onto the database help authorities see the complete picture of the health of the river systems in South Africa.
She said, “We’ve known for a long time now that the Palmiet River is heavily polluted. Our organisation monitors the river at different points on a quarterly basis, especially now, after the floods, where a lot of the sewerage infrastructure is damaged. The aspiration of the Palmiet River Rehabilitation Project is to clean up the river and restore it to a healthy state, and to help the municipality to identify the key areas they could focus on where the main impacts and the main sources of pollution are.”
How can you help?
For more information on how to perform a mini-SASS, go to www.minisass.org.
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