Mackinac Island students are captivated by the model village as they watch pollution travel from land into the village's water supply. The watershed lesson was presented Friday, April 30, on Mackinac Island by the Chippewa/East Mackinac Conservation District. Pictured are (from left) Aaron Riggs, Christian Styburski, Alexandra Pokora, Talon Greenlee, Christina Lynch (a visiting Chicago student), and Hannah Styburski. Watching pollutants flow through a miniature model village was part of an environmental lesson for Mackinac Island students when a hands-on workshop was presented by the Chippewa/East Mackinac Conservation District at their school Friday, April 30.

“The pollution we do every day affects our water,” said Barbara Chaplin, educational coordinator for the district. “Our goal is to teach them not to pollute.”

Students from second grade through seventh grade learned that they can make a difference in helping to reduce pollution. A miniature town set the stage for the students to learn about items that impact the environment at schools, farms, and neighborhoods.

The interactive lesson teaches students about how everyday actions impact drinking water. They learned how cow manure, oil, and gasoline travel through the watershed when it rains and how it reaches creeks, wetlands, and lakes.

Each student had the opportunity to add a pollutant to the miniature town, with all watching the process as it traveled around the community's water system. They also learned activities can help to conserve wetlands. Students were taught they can make a difference by picking up garbage and shutting off water when not in use, like when they brush their teeth.

The program dovetailed into a wetlands lesson second grade students completed earlier in the week, said teacher Laura Eiseler. With sample jars from the water plant, the students trekked about the Island, taking samples at a natural spring, a creek, a swamp, the lake, and a well. Along with the sample jars, children drew in a book a picture of each site they visited.

Filled sample jars were delivered to the Department of Public Works for testing.

Once the test results were back, the young students rated each testing site based on the amount of E. coli and other bacteria found in the water, said Ms. Eiseler.

The cleanest water the students found was taken from an Island well, with the second cleanest was from a spring at Brown's Brook. The dirtiest water was at the Croghan Swamp near British Landing.