Water Quality? Whats that?

I was at Constitution Beach this week! We had a very fun time over there. During our time, we had done a trash clean up, went swimming, and relaxed together as a group. It was fun, not to mention we went sand ranking where we made pretty cool designs! We were asked to film a video talking about invasive species for our program partners too so we did a good amount of video segments in order to teach the kids about native vs invasive Species. It was a fun time over at the beach!

   Studying the water quality around us is very important for the ecosystem and human health because it brings awareness of what is going on in the world and how we can help those situations. It helps us know how water affects us personally in our daily lives. One of the most important things in life is understanding what is around you. A current challenge that goes into maintaining high water quality is climate change and poor governance. These situations are more normalized then they should be, which creates issues for maintaining water quality all around us, when the water isn’t managed around us it can get contaminated causing dirty, unsanitary water all around us. There are some beaches in Boston with poor water quality and some that are better. One is spectacle island and another is Nantasket beach, which are fairly clean. While Lynn Beach is said to be one of the dirtiest beaches in Boston, one of the reasons why it could be considered one of the dirtiest is because there isn’t enough water management to keep it clean, unlike other beaches.

    A common test of water quality to understand what is dirty vs what is clean is to use a water quality kit; those help test the cleanliness of the water. Some people even use filters to help test it. One way to test water quality is by using rainfall, There are some cases where bacteria can affect rainfall called Bio-precipitation. Rainwater can even create bacteria and other chemicals that can lead to diseases. Speaking of, there is a bacteria known as E. coli that relates to the closure of beaches. The number of E. coli in water can cause beaches to close. As of right now if there are 200 E. coli measured per 100 millilitres of water, it would cause the beach to close. Although many things contribute to contamination of water some ecosystems contribute to water purification; wetlands and other forests often remove things from runoff acting as a filter for the water around us. Some animals help filter it as well.

    I asked my mother if she remembered how Boston Harbor used to be, she said she didn’t have a clear memory, but she does remember a time where the harbor was fairly dirty and how there was a big cleanup for the harbor. That is sort of similar today in terms of how we have a bigger cleanup for beaches to keep the water quality safe. There are many things you could do to help the public beaches, the first thing could be to research the beaches and the water quality of those places. I recommend for you to even go to a beach and observe the water quality that is in those waters, not only that but you should make sure you have fun at the beaches!

Kamal

A Design of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch that I drew at Constitution Beach!