Students walk and talk through the water year

By Gary Raham
Correspondent

Water shapes the way people live, farm and do business in Colorado, and Poudre School District students will find out how.

The students are part of a collaborative project with Colorado State University and a community-based network whose acronym sounds a bit like a breakfast cereal: CoCoRaHS.

The acronym stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, which grew from the efforts of Nolan Doesken and CSU's Colorado Climate Center. Doesken became motivated to improve local weather monitoring after Fort Collins' major flood in 1997.

Doesken and PSD audiovisual expert Herb Saperstone brainstormed a grant proposal made to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The resulting project guides students in making a series of CDs about the realities of water use and recycling in the west called "Walking Through the Water Year." The series will air on Channel 10, and the CDs will be available to all district schools.

This past summer a dozen students, some district teachers and staff, and two individuals from the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute at CSU put together a pilot CD called "The Water Report" to whet the appetite of district teachers who will lead various schools in different content areas of the topic.

"The level of creativity and input from the students was outstanding," said Assistant Regional Water Coordinator Matt Neibauer.

In the series, students acting as news broadcasters provide interviews with weather professionals and participate in lively demonstrations of basic hydrological principals. Students also demonstrate the use of rain gauges and other equipment that their peers will be using at district schools to track weather and water conditions through the year, performing a valuable data collection service to scientists as well as enriching their own education.

Cache La Poudre Junior High, tucked next to the Poudre River in LaPorte, served as the lead school in September by focusing on streamflow. Contributing experts included Steve Vandas from the U.S. Geological Survey and George Varra, Poudre River Commissioner. Lead teacher at CLP is Mary Richmond.

Students will outline the project as a whole and attempt to answer questions like these: Where does the Poudre River begin and end? Who takes water out of the river and how much? What is a watershed?

They will also attempt to convince fellow students, teachers and parents that a hydrograph can be a beautiful thing.

Neibauer said the September show highlighted CLPJH's River Week and provided students the opportunity to interview two showcased scientists for the month.

"While our approach is still being established, we have put together a list of expected tasks for participating schools, with different levels of involvement from elementary, junior high and high schools," he said.

Lisa Pitot, science curriculum facilitator at PSD, will spearhead the recruitment of schools to serve as topic leaders and help coordinate the contributions of CoCoRaHS and the use of Project Wet curriculum materials. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has developed these latter activities for teachers for many years.

The month-by-month topics follow: October, reservoirs with Dennis Bode from Fort Collins city government and Brian Werner from the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District; November, snow with Mike Gillespie and crew of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Wendy Ryan; December, mountains, weather and water with Lew Grant, Nolan Doesken and others; January, evaporation and transpiration with Reagan Waskom and Troy Bauder; February, soil moisture with Jeff Neimann and Sara Rathburn from CSU; March, snowmelt and runoff with George Leavesly, Mike Gillespie and others; April, rain with Lee MacDonald and Bill Cotton from CSU; May, floods with Treste Huse of the National Weather Service, Matt Kelsch of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and Bob Jarrett, USGS; June, hail in Colorado with Pat Kennedy and Rob Cifelli from CSU; July, drought and saving water with Veva McCraig, Colorado Water Conservation Board.

To learn more about the program call Lisa Pitot at 490-3105 or e-mail lpitot@psdschools.org, or call Matt Neibauer at 491-5124 or e-mail matt.neibauer@research.colostate.edu.

The channel 10 schedule is available at www.psdschools.org/services/channel10/wtwy.aspx. Follow The Water Report link.

Learn more about CoCoRaHS at www.cocorahs.org. It is looking for people to help monitor weather conditions in northern Colorado and throughout the state. Those interested may sign up to volunteer at the web site and learn how to receive training using the equipment.