The day has come.  Hackensack Riverkeeper has enlisted high school students from six schools in the watershed to monitor the quality of their local tributary to the Hackensack River.  The students will monitor 10 of the most important ecological parameters that indicate the waterbody’s health.  These parameters include temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia, phosphates, nitrates, turbidity and copper, which is a TMDL in the lower Hackensack (see Fall 2002, p.15).

The program is multifaceted.  On one hand, nearly two hundred students obtain a comprehensive, albeit brief, introduction to watersheds, point source and nonpoint source pollution, best management practices, and the causes and effects of the 10 parameters.  Through classroom repetition of the major terms and concepts and weekly sampling of their tributary (to which they immediately become stewards), the students become aware and mindful when it comes to the environment.