At the beginning of the last schoolyear (1996/97) we started our biology course with Mr Thum in order to participate in the Hessnet project. Since then we have measured the physical and chemical nature of different waters near our school regularly. Once in a month we check the quality of the water of the river Dill and Lemp as well as Mühlbach creek, all easy to reach from our school.
We analyse the waters chemically and physically (pH-value, temperature, conductivity). Each student has a special task. For example I check the concentration of manganese in the water. I must take samples of water and mix them with chemical substances in a test-tube. Later I can read the results at a colour scale. Two students (Jens Regel and Marco Volkwein) write a report of all the facts and after that summarize them in the computer programme 'Hessnet'.
We have carried out these measurements for one year. At the beginning we had some problems with the instruments as well as a few breakdowns of the 'Hessnet' programme. But meanwhile everything is under control. Our data bank is now big enough so that we are able to utilize the data. The latest results showed some interesting developments about the degree of contamination. We will have a closer look at this. The data were sent by e-mail to Biedenkopf biological centre for schools. From there all the other participating schools get information.
The contamination of the water varies with the course of the year. In summer the pollution is higher as in rainier seasons as a result of the low water. After having compared all measurements we found out: Mühlbach is the cleanest, Lemp is the dirtiest and Dill is polluted medium.
For further information (in german language) visit our website at http://www.schule-ehringshausen.de
Thanks to our englisch teachers Monika van Bracht and Renate Schlausch
who were so kind to help us translating this text from german to english.
This
report has been sent to NEC Global
Network Class "Gakkos".
