Schools
Young Environmentalists to Study the Rouge River
Students from Birmingham's West Maple Elementary will collect water samples for testing as part of the spring monitoring event.
Anyone that sees elementary-aged students frolicking in and around Booth Park today during school hours Wednesday should not be alarmed, or assume they're skipping class to take advantage of the warm weather expected today.
The classroom for many fifth graders at West Maple Elementary School will be outdoors today and Thursday as students participate in the annual Rouge River Spring Monitoring Day.
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The students will conducting water quality testing, physical testing and collect classifying benthic macro invertebrates, according to Michelle Romig of the Birmingham Public Schools. The students will be outdoors in separate groups from 9:15 a.m. to noon, and from 12:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Last year, students from Birmingham Covington School conducted the testing and found a water-quality index of '3,' which is classified as 'Good,' according to the Rouge Education Project's annual report.
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Their findings concurred with those collected by the experts that conducted the spring survey for the river, which showed an improvement over the previous year.
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