Students participate in World Water Monitoring Day

World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.

Students from Leigh Jenkins' high school biology classes sampled water on Friday, October 17 from the Warm Springs Run, which flows past Widmyer Elementary School and Berkeley Springs High School. With materials supplied by the Eastern Panhandle Conservation District, students measured a core set of water quality parameters including temperature, acidity (pH), clarity (turbidity) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Results will be shared with participating communities around the globe through the WWMD website.

World Water Monitoring Day recognizes the anniversary of the U.S. Clean Water Act, which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1972 to restore and protect the country's water resources.

The coordinators of WWMD, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA) plan to expand participation to one million people in 100 countries by 2012.