Freshwater Forensics: UTRCA Brings Watershed Science to Western's Science Olympics 

On May 28, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) Education Staff participated in the Western University Science Olympics, an annual event that draws more than 700 high school students from across Southwestern Ontario to campus for a day of hands-on STEM challenges. 

This year, the UTRCA hosted the "Freshwater Forensics" challenge competition — a station that invited student teams to investigate surface water quality and explore one of the most exciting areas of watershed science and stewardship in our region: understanding and reducing the movement of agricultural phosphorus into local waterways and, ultimately, Lake Erie. 

The UTRCA has been working with farmers and researchers on innovative approaches to keep nutrients on the land. The science behind those solutions is what students engaged with at the Science Olympics. Teams used simulators and diagrams and observed live aquatic macroinvertebrates collected from the Thames River, to explore how water moves across the landscape, what it carries with it, and what healthy water quality looks like.

This participation is part of UTRCA's larger agriculture and water quality education initiative — connecting the next generation to the innovative, collaborative agricultural water quality solutions underway in our watershed.