KAYLA KILEY | CADILLAC NEWS
A St. Ann Elementary School student answers a question about water pollution during a lesson from Amy Vail, city of Cadillac lab manager, regarding pollution. Students learned how pollution can happen and ways to help keep the environment clean.
KAYLA KILEY | CADILLAC NEWS
A St. Ann Elementary student raises her hand to answer a question that Amy Vail, city of Cadillac lab manager, posed to the students regarding water pollution.
KAYLA KILEY | CADILLAC NEWS
Amy Vail, city of Cadillac lab manager, uses fish tanks filled with water and food coloring to show students how pollution works over time.
Learning to keep our water clean
By Kayla Kiley
CADILLAC - "Where do you find water?" Amy Vail asks a crowd of first- through third-grade students seated in front of her at St. Ann Elementary School’s gym.
Hands shoot up.
"The ocean and lakes," says a student.
"Toilets," says a boy.
"Showers," says a little girl.
"Underground," adds another.
Vail is the City of Cadillac lab manager, and part of her job is to do pubic education at the schools. She recently went to St. Ann to teach kids about water pollution.
Vail holds up a one-quart jar of blue-dyed water.
"Imagine that this is all the world’s water," she says to the kids. "Most water on earth is salt water. You can’t drink it because it will make you sick, and we don’t use salt water at all for our everyday lives."
Vail pours about an inch of water into a small cup and says to the children, "This is it - this is the amount of fresh water we have."
Noting that much of the fresh water is frozen, Vail pours a tiny amount of into another cup and says, "This is the amount of fresh, liquid water on Earth."
Some children put their hands up to their mouths after realizing the truth.
Vail isn’t done yet - she pulls out an eyedropper and sucks up some water from the last cup and drops one drip into a petri-size dish.
"That’s it," she says. "One drop of usable clean, fresh water that isn’t frozen and doesn’t have salt."
Kids murmur.
Vail says there are a couple of ways that we pollute the water, that single drop of water that we have to live off.
Using an ant-farm-like structure, Vail explains the layers of the earth and shows how pollutants can move from things such as septic tanks and gasoline tanks into the water table.
"People who live outside the city get well water, which is water from underground," Vail explains. "What if a gasoline or septic tank has a hole and gets into the water underground?
"Most of the time it gets diluted, but the gasoline or bacteria that comes from peoples’ poop can still make you sick," she adds.
Using a fish-tank aquarium filled with water, Vail asks students to pretend that this is Lake Cadillac 200 years ago. The animals use it and pee in the water, a few people who inhabit the area wash their clothes and bathe. Vail adds a little yellow food coloring to show students the pollution in the water.
One hundred years ago, more people moved to the area, which means more pollutants, Vail says as she adds green food coloring to the water.
Students laugh and say things like "yuck!"
Fifty years ago more people are in town, and they’re fertilizing their lawns with chemicals. And gasoline and oil get into the water - more food coloring.
Twenty-five years ago - students gasp - factories, oil, cleaning products. She drops in red food coloring.
"Today, there’s hardly a spot where there isn’t a house on the lake," Vail says. "There are a lot more people using boards and septic systems, more chemicals and animal waste.
"What happened to the lake?" she asks, referring to the deep-brown-colored water.
Pollution happened.
"All of the water from gutters - when it rains or snow melts - anything on the road or sidewalk gets swept into the storm sewer, and that water goes into the nearest river, lake or stream," she says. "Tree leaves, dirt, sand, rocks, chemicals that kill dandelions, oil from cars, salt from the roads, pop cans on the street - that’s going to where you go swimming and fishing, and it never gets cleaned up."
Vail asks students not to pollute the environment. She encourages them to use natural solutions, such hot peppers and garlic mixed with water and to spray that onto plants instead of pesticide. Vail also suggested using vinegar and baking soda to clean household items instead of chemical products.
Vail concludes, "We only have a tiny drop of water to live off of, and if we keep polluting and wasting it, it keeps getting smaller."
kkiley@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS (6397)
