Environmental EducationSummer Camp Project
Environmental Education
Water QualityThe Department of Earth & Space Sciences at Stony Brook University has provided the Sea Wolf Program with staff to implement a Water Quality Program focusing on Long Island’s need to protect its sole source aquifers, which provide all of the potable and commercial water required by our residents and industry.
We often forget the importance of water to our lives. Water is of vital importance in stabilizing and assisting in maintaining a healthy functioning human body. We are also blessed with the recreational opportunities afforded us, such as boating, swimming, and fishing.
Our hands-on program includes the installation by campers of a frontier-type pitcher pump to extract water from an aquifer as our early American settlers and farmers did. The water taken from this pump will be sent to a laboratory for analysis.
The rationale for protecting the Pine Barrens as a large recharge area for satisfying our tremendous requirement will be covered in depth as we study aerial photographs of the Pine Barrens and visit them to better understand the key role they play in providing the volume of water required on Long Island.
Campers will visit a Suffolk County water testing lab and a water authority pumping station.
Significant time will be dedicated to understanding how water can easily become undrinkable due to pollutants. Preventative measures for eliminating toxins and cancer-causing agents from our aquifers will be discussed at length.
As stewards of our natural resources the campers will quickly understand the value of “Water as a Resource.”
Other Stewardship Projects
