Rapid+Bio-Assessment

Students from Chaplin Elementary School went on a field experience to learn about macro-invertebrates and the quality of the water in the Natchaug River. 6th graders from Kelly Middle School went on a field trip and learned about how they clean water. We saw some interesting things and saw what kind of chemicals they put in the water to help clean it. Overall, it was a fun experience.

At the Natchaug River we went in the water and scrubbed rocks so the bugs can go in the net. One person was holding the net at a 90-degree angle while the other partner was scrubbing the rocks. This activity taught you a lot because before we went on this field trip I never knew that different bugs lived in different polluted areas. Melinda Mrs.Blairs six grade class in Chaplin.

Macro invertabrae were really awesome, I wore hipwaders, and you could scrub the rocks with the boots and the brush and gloves. The gloves had these bumps on them that disattached the bugs from rocks. Cassidy from Six grade Walters class in Chaplin.

It was really fun looking up close at the bugs that we got out of the river. We got to learn how big and how small the bugs can be. It was really hard getting some of the bugs out of the water and scraping them off of the rocks. There were some very large and very small animals.

Check out the thank you letter to the Chaplin students from Jean Pillo, QSHC Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator