Communities around the world, as well as small island communities, share one universal need and growing concern – the health and future availability of their water resources. With burgeoning population growth, land development, changing weather patterns and increased possibilities of contamination in one form or another, communities are waking up to the fact that their watersheds must be preserved and protected.
Vinalhaven now has in its midst a group of 25 budding water conservation experts. These professionally attired, suit-and-tie “consultants,” the freshman and sophomore students of science teacher Jennifer Clifford, presented their accumulated findings at a public forum just prior to the Christmas holiday. Only the second event to be featured in the Vinalhaven School’s new state-of-the-art auditorium, the students impressed the 85 community members in attendance not only with their complete and concise information, but also their poise and presentation skills.
The students’ “State of the Watershed” presentation was the result of nine weeks’ worth of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) mapping with Island Institute fellow Kerry O’Donnell. Preliminary findings, maps and general information support were also provided by the Vinalhaven Land Trust, Comprehensive Planning Committee, GIS Committee and Water District. Along with accurately mapping the watershed district – the single source of Vinalhaven’s drinking water – the students also conducted water quality samplings, inventoried and mapped the area’s biodiversity, identified current and potential threats to the town’s water supply and made recommendations to ensure the safety and availability of the town’s future water needs.
Clifford, Island Institute fellow Karen Burns and the techno-heads from within the student group facilitated the pulling together of their information, provided the technical skills needed to transpose it onto Power-Point presentations, and provided the polish needed to articulate their findings. Throughout their presentation, students were generous with their definitions of terms used when describing a watershed and water quality, enabling the audience to keep its head well above the surface of information.
Presenters Chelsea Treworgy and Marybeth Wadsworth introduced the topic of watersheds in general and their importance to Vinalhaven. Presenters Flora Drury, Nikki Osgood, Oakley Jackson and Johnny McCarthy gracefully walked attendees through delineations of groundwater, surface water, and explanations of the hydraulic cycle.
They also drove home a significant and fairly unique aspect of Vinalhaven’s water supply: all of Vinalhaven’s potable water comes from a “sole source aquifer” – namely, what falls from the sky. The group further explained that due to the island’s granite and gabbro bedrock, all but five percent of that precipitation settles nowhere, but simply trickles back down to the sea. The five percent that remains flows into streams that feed into Folly Pond, Otter Pond and eventually Round Pond. The town draws its drinking water from a pump house on Round Pond where it is chlorinated and pumped through a 100-year-old pipe system to the surrounding community. Concerns over saltwater intrusion into the water supply, as the students explained, “is an issue because our island is surrounded by it.”
Again, carefully defining unfamiliar terms were students Natalie Conway, Phillip Hopkins, and Melissa Swears, who enthusiastically described their work with O’Donnell and the GPS/GIS technology. The students explained that, “… both systems use satellites to transmit location information to a handheld unit on the Earth.” The GPS technology enabled the group to map roads, property lines, zoned areas and animal habitats. GIS allowed for the layering of information onto a map, which the students used to make inferences and correlations. The students pinpointed areas of ATV (four-wheeler) erosion damage and the location of a dumpsite containing hazardous materials within the watershed. As an adjunct study and a service to the Vinalhaven Land Trust, the students located and outlined a rare stand of Pitch Pines that also serves as an eagle habitat.
Says the students’ teacher, Clifford, “I was very pleased and surprised at their [interest in] the GPS and the excellent suggestions they made, such as the idea of taking coordinates and mapping the 100-year-old pipeline for future upkeep or replacement.”
Presenters Emma Rosen, Evan Brown and Shannon Michael walked the audience through a history of Vinalhaven’s zoning laws and their effects on the water district. Their group suggested stricter zoning to control recreational vehicles and posting of the land near the water supply.
Their findings and suggestions correlated with those of Meagan Davidson, Laura McCarthy and Patrick Gasperini on the threats posed to the open water supply by vehicles traveling along the road adjacent to the pond. They reported that, “the road curves sharply around a rock outcrop, making a potential hazard of an automobile going into the pond, or leaks and run-offs of automobile fluids contaminating the pond.”
Both groups found information that showed that the road was at one time routed behind the cliff rather than alongside the pond, and that grown-over remains of the former road can still be accessed. Alaina Martin and Josh Clayter discussed future plans that should be considered by the town, such as an emergency first responder plan to contain an oil spill, aeration filters and establishing an alternate water source. This group of students felt strongly that it was more cost-effective to the town to consider these safety measures than having to create a desalination plant to meet the town’s water needs should such an accident occur.
Alyssa Hunsinger and Christina Wadsworth reported the results of 12 different water studies conducted by the classes. The students tested such parameters as pH, nitrates, fecal coliform and salinity on all three ponds and the brook feeding them, with all results well within safe limits.
Students Aamber Doak and Chris Sawyer adeptly facilitated the evening presentation and encouraged questions from the audience. An additional responsibility of theirs was to send out invitations to members of the town board of selectmen and various committee members, each of whom were well represented.
“It was an incredibly well done presentation, said John Van Ness, head of the island’s recently formed GIS committee. “What impresses me most was that they had utilized so many of the team members. The beauty of it was the organization and coordination and that all of the kids knew that they were involved. I hope that the town follows through on the students’ recommendations and develops a plan for water quality on Vinalhaven.”
Lucy McCarthy, director of the Vinalhaven Land Trust, remarked, “I was very impressed with the depth in which they went into each of the various topics. They had tackled a very complex subject and were able to break it down into presentable information that the audience could understand. Our fresh water supply is the most outstanding resource issue we face as a community.”
Proud teacher Clifford summed the evening up with this comment: “I feel as if the students were greatly empowered by this presentation, they came away feeling as if they had really been listened to and that their opinions did matter. The use of the new auditorium stepped it up another notch and they rose to the occasion. They were truly, and deservedly, proud of themselves.”
A Vinalhaven resident, Karen Roberts Jackson writes occasionally for Island Institute publications.