River project enlists students

PITTSBORO -- Starting next year, Chatham County high school students will play a key role in keeping the Rocky River healthy.

Three science teachers, one from each of the county's high schools, and their students will team with N.C. State University and a nonprofit watchdog group on the river-monitoring project.

The Rocky River is an important body of water in Chatham because it spans almost the entire county and provides drinking water for Siler City.

John Fountain, head of the marine, earth and atmospheric sciences department at NCSU, will lead the program.

He's working with the schools, he said, because he plans to test several influences on the river, including increased development in the county, which will require numerous test stations.

Automated test stations, which are used on the Neuse River, would be impractical because they cost about $20,000 each, he said.

"If you want a lot of stations, it means people," he said. "Plus I'm into science education, and involving students in real experiments is the most effective way to make them understand and appreciate science."

Fountain will oversee all the students' testing, and students also will take pictures of the river to document changes.

Friends of the Rocky River, a nonprofit group, approached Fountain to start the program. The group, made up of residents who live along the river, then lobbied the Chatham County Board of Commissioners to give the schools $35,000 for testing equipment. The board approved the money unanimously last month.

"I think it's a great deal for the county and good for the students," said Commissioner George Lucier, who is a scientist, adding that Fountain and the teachers are working on this program for free.

Sonny Keisler, with Friends of the Rocky River, said the group is concerned about the river's health as more development comes to the county. Siler City has built a second drinking-water reservoir on the river, which slows the river's flow. The town also dumps its treated wastewater in the river, Keisler said.

Phil Cox, a science teacher at Jordan-Matthews High School, will participate in the program with his Advanced Placement Environmental class. He says his students already monitor a tributary of the Rocky River.

The river monitoring program with NCSU will give his students even more field experience.

"Just being associated with the university gives them real world experience," he said.

Fountain said the teachers will plan and train for the program this year. Students will start monitoring in the fall of 2008, he said.