On 14th March triple-p commemorated the International Day of Action for Rivers by conducting water testing activities with Grade 6 pupils from Kusa-Kusa Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal.
The site chosen was the lower Ezimbokodweni River in the vicinity of a water extraction plant, where citizen-science methods used to conduct the water testing were miniSASS and chemical tests.
The activities triple-P staff conducted with the pupils of Kusa-Kusa Primary School resulted in high levels of engagement and discussion. The most interest was from the sampling and identifying of the macroinvertebrates as part of the water testing which brought about competing arguments on the results. Critically, the students left the session with a much deeper understanding of why we talk about clean rivers equaling healthy people and why we need to conserve and monitor our water resources.’
These words from Desmond Malgas triple-P’s project co-ordinator and community Engagement Guru, drive home the importance of helping communities understand the state of the rivers and waterways around them. Citizen science enabled through simple water testing kits like those used and supplied by triple-p.
Test results
The mini stream assessment scoring system (miniSASS) is a simple citizen-science water testing method that samples aquatic macroinvertebrates in a chosen site. The types of macroinvertebrates found will reveal information about water quality and the health of the stream or river based on the different tolerances and sensitivities of these aquatic animals to things like pollutants.
The result of the miniSASS test was a score of 4,75, which according to the table below shows the river to be in a Very Poor Condition. The results of the Chemical Testing showed the levels of nitrates and phosphates areas fair with Ph as normal. The water warm and dissolved oxygen was sitting at 4ppm which is fair.
Read more about our work in water way management
