Introduction
Water Quality Testing Network
Since 1992, the Regional Science Center has managed the Red River Valley Water Quality Testing Network. The Network currently contains twelve area high schools who twice a year analyze surface water in the watershed of the southern Red River Valley. Each school reports its findings to the network, which then distributes all data to member schools. The sampling and testing skills and analysis has become part of the course-work of the schools' chemistry and environmental science classes. The high schools that are currently participants in the network are: West Fargo, Fargo North, Fargo South, Woodrow Wilson (Fargo), Shanley (Fargo), Moorhead, Breckenridge, Dilworth Glyndon Felton, Detroit Lakes, Perham, Fergus Falls and New York Mills. These schools have found that their studies of the quality of surface water in the Valley is made more meaningful when data from a large number of sites are combined with their class data and they have access to data from previous years sampling. Twice each school year (once in the fall and once in the spring) each school tests the following water quality factors: temperature, pH, turbidity, total solids, nitrates, total phosphates, dissolved oxygen, and biological oxygen demand from a total of 25 sites.
Teachers from schools in the Red River Valley Watershed who are interested in having their science class join the network can call George Davis at (218) 477-2904 or E-mail davisg@mnstate.edu