Bugs In Wyong River
Newcastle Herald
Thursday July 31, 2003
STUDENTS at Hopetown School, Wyong, were recently involved in testing water from Wyong River as part of the Bugasaurus Program.
The Bugasaurus Program involves school-based surveys of local water quality. It is organised by the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation.
Hopetown students chose a site near their school, from which they collected water from Wyong River.
The samples were collected from along the banks of the river in a suburb called Tacoma, which is behind the school.
Students gathered and identified these bugs, using an identification chart.
Results showed that the water was fairly clean and contained many healthy bugs.
The bugs found by Hopetown students had a low pollution tolerance and only lived in reasonably clean water.
Some of the bugs found were fresh-water snails, mussels, sand hoppers and nematodes.
The Hopetown School results were then entered online as part of the statewide survey.
It was important for the water to be tested as this established how clean it was and safe to use.
Water quality could affect school and community activities such as swimming, fishing, sport and recreation.
Community members can help to keep waterways clean by washing cars on the grass, picking up rubbish so that it does not enter the storm water drains, being careful with garden chemicals and picking up dog waste when walking pets.
Please help to keep our local waterways clean.
© 2003 Newcastle Herald
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