'WATER FOR LIFE' OUTREACH PROGRAM

The Water for Life Environmental Outreach Program focuses on water quality and quantity issues in the vicinity of La Selva Biological station in lowland Costa Rica. This outreach component was initiated by graduate students from UGA's Conservation and Sustainable Development Program (Pringle 1996, 1999), in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Costa Rica, the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), and educators and leaders in local communities. Water-for-Life was developed specifically in response to water resource problems faced by the community of Puerto Viejo de Sarapaqui (population 10,000), located ~ 5 km from La Selva Biological Station. The town experienced explosive population growth over the last decade as a result of the development of banana plantations in the region. This growth has placed extreme demands on municipal water supplies. Local surface and groundwaters are contaminated with fecal coliforms (introduced by livestock and domestic sewage). Pesticides, and herbicides from the banana plantations are also a problem (e.g., Pringle and Scatena 1999). Environmental outreach products have been developed and disseminated within the community (http://www.ecology.uga.edu/outreach/wfl/home.htm). Products include: (1) a volunteer stream monitoring program (i.e., Adopt-a-Stream) that was implemented in a local high school, accompanied by the development of a manual in Spanish and English which provides details on how to initiate volunteer stream monitoring programs, sampling methodology, and data interpretation (Laidlaw 1996); (2) three outreach posters designed to promote awareness of watershed protection, the importance of riparian buffer zones, and riverine connectivity between stream headwaters and marine ecosystems (Vargas 1995, Pohlman 1998); and (3) development of teaching materials (study guide) for local high school teachers on stream protection and water quality (Pohlman 1998). These products are available in Spanish on the web site above.

IMPACT: The Water for Life Program has played a key role in public education and outreach. The program has been so effective as an educational tool for both graduate students (in Costa Rica and the U.S.) and local communities, that OTS now offers graduate fellowship opportunities in environmental outreach on water quality problems for students in both Costa Rica and the U.S. To date, 4 Masters theses have been completed and 2 are in progress by University of Georgia students. One Masters thesis has been completed and 4 are in progress by Costa Rican students from the Universidad Nacional de Autonoma de Costa Rica. Adopt-A-Stream has been expanded into 5 additional highschools and is being implemented in local communities near other OTS field stations. The program is considered a model for environmental outreach programs that are linked to scientific research.

Collaborators in 'Water for Life' Program, Costa Rica

PRIMARY

OTHER COLLABORATORS

GRADUATE STUDENTS

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS (*Student supported by NSF-Research Experiences for Undergraduate Research (REU) Grant)

La Selva Biological Station is renowned for the high-caliber research that results from experiments within the reserve.  Now La Selva is expanding the realm of its research by instructing people in the Puerto Viejo community on how to conduct their own studies of the environment.  Under the leadership of Orlando Vargas and German Guardiola, the "Servicios Educativos y Relaciones Communales" (SERC) program is involving local high school students in a lon-term stream study.  The program is designed to teach students about the scientific process through hands-on learning while working to improve local water quality.

The program, call Adopte Una Quebrada, was developed by Tina Laidlaw as part of her master's thesis project for the University of Georgia's Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development program.  Laidlaw works with Dr. Cathy Pringle and received support for the project from a Conservation Food and Health Foundation grant and a La Selva student internship.

The concept is based on Georgia's Adopt-A-Stream program and requires that volunteers commit to monthly monitoring of a local stream.  Students in an upper-level agroecology class at the Puerto Viejo high school participate in the program and monitor the Quebrada Grande, a second-order stream originating near Cristo Rey and passing directly through the town of Puerto Viejo.  Students monitor four stream components in order evaluate the water quality:  1) physical parameters; 2) habitat parameters; 3) chemical parameters; and 4) biological monitoring.  A Hach Surface Water Test kit was purchased with funding from a grant from the Conservation Food and Health Foundation.  The chemical kit supplies the students with the necessary equipment for determining concentrations of dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrates, phosphorous, chlorine, and pH.  Other study components are evaluated by simple visual evaluations or collecting and identifying the aquatic insects to order.

Prior to Adopte Una Quebrada's implementation in March 1995, training workshops were held for students, teachers and the SERC staff.  The program is curently administered by SERC in an effort to maintain consistency of sampling and to provide a support system to insure the program's longevity.  The energy and enthusiasm provided by German Guardiola and Orlando Vargas have helped to guide the program's development and operation.  In addition to regular monthly sampling, the group has expanded the study to include other sites for comparison.  In September, the group sampled the Quebrada Surá at La Selva to use as a reference site and an upstream site on the Quebrada Grande before the stream passes through the town.

Through their participation in the study, students have learned about:  1) the variety of organisms inhabiting the stream; 2) pollution sources affecting water quality; and 3) how they can work to improve and protect their streams and rivers.  Based on the success of Adopte Una Quebrada, plans are developing to implement the program in several other local school systems.  Another avenue for potential expansion of the program is to incorporate it into the educational programs at Las Cruces or Palo Verde.  In addition, Laidlaw has developed a manual which provides details on how to initiate an Adopte Una Quebrada program, the sampling methodology to follow, and how to interpret the data.  A Macintosh computer and a dissecting scope have been donated to the high school to use for data synthesis and macroinvertebrate identification.  An application is currently being reviewed by Hach company requesting additional chemical kits in order to expand the program to other local schools and to provide the schools with their own personal kits.  Donations of old lab equipment (i.e., dissecting scopes, petri dishes, etc.) that could be used by program participants in the high school are currently being solicited.

Adopte Una Quebrada is an excellent venue for introducing science to students and for broadening the research scope of La Selva.  The program extends past simply relaying information learned by researchers at La Selva to the community.  Adopte Una Quebrada is a program that trains people to determine the pollution impacts on a given system and empowers them with the technology and knowledge to locate and address the problem.

Through the combined contributions and collaboration of the OTS Education Program, Cathy Pringle's NSF-funded Stream Resarch Program, the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, the Puerto Viejo community, and the La Selva Biological Station, a program of fellowships and intern support has been created to carry on the work initiated several years ago under the aegis of the Adopt-a-Stream program.  This project, which is unusual for the number of participants that it brings together, builds on several years experience with Adopt-a-Stream by continuing educational efforts in the community, evaluating the data from several years of water quality monitoring, and addressing local concerns and needs.

Cathy Pringle (University of Georgia), who has been studying the ecology of La Selva's streams since 1984 (e.g., Pringle et al. 1993), became concerned about water quality and quantity problems in local communities surrounding La Selva (Pringle 1997).  Communities surrounding La Selva were not only consuming polluted water, but were also contributing to the pollution of these water sources.  The pollution resulted from trash being dumped in the water, wastewater from houses being emptied into streams, and gravel extracted from rivers to create roads.  These problems exacerbated those caused by non-point pollution sources such as soil erosion and nutrient runoff from cattle grazing and pesticide runoff from banana plantations.  Cathy enlisted the help of Rodney Vargas (OTS Environmental Education and Development offices) who was then a graduate student with the University of Georgia, to help develop an environmental outreach program about water supply and quality issues and the local environment (Vargas 1995).  With Tina Laidlaw (graduate student at the University of Georgia) they designed a program and an Adopt-a-Stream manual that involved local schools in the monitoring of water quality and the reduction of pollution (Laidlaw 1996).  The program also included production of a Watershed Protection Poster generated by the La Selva GIS system that depicts the origin of potable water for the Puerto Viejo community.

Today, through OTS fellowships and other support, Latin American and North American university students are working together to continue and strengthen the project.  Adriana Figueroa (U. Nacional) is working under the guidance of Dr. Claudia Charpentier to evaluate the implementation of the Adopt-a-Stream program and manual.  Adriana works directly with Puerto viejo students and teachers.  Stacey Smith (Virginia Polytechnic Insititute and recipient of NSF-REU award from C. Pringle) is surveying individuals who live along the Quebrada Grande to understand their attitudes about the lands immediately adjacent to streams (riparian areas), the management of which is a critical factor in water quality maintenance.  Scott Pohlman (University of Georgia) is working on an instruction manual that will organize environmental education lesson plans for SERC, La Selva's environmental outreach program, directed by Orlando Vargas.  Scott is also developing a poster featuring photos of the region, accompanied by Spanish text about the benefits of naturally vegetated riparian zones, life histories of selected stream inhabitants and impacts of land uses on water quality.  An advisory committee, representative of all the groups that have contributed to the establishment of this program, directs the efforts of the students and their interaction with the community.

This program is a model for future collaborations that bring together the interests of local communities, OTS field stations, the OTS Environmental Education Program, and the OTS Education Program.

(Copies of the Watershed Protection Poster are available.  For more information contact Christina at the North American office.)

 Laidlaw, K. 1996.  The implementation of a volunteer stream monitoring program in Costa Rica.  Masters Thesis, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA . [Masters thesis work conducted at La Selva]

Pringle, C. M.  1997 Expanding scientific research programs to address conservation challenges in freshwater ecosystems, p. 305-319.  In: Pickett, S. T. A., R. S. Ostfeld, M. Shachak and G. E. Likens (eds.) Enhancing the ecological basis of conservation:  heterogeneity, ecosystem function and biodiversity.  Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.

Pringle, C. M., G. L. Rowe, F. J. Triska, J. F. Fernandez and J. West.  1993.  Landscape linkages between geothermal activity, solute composition and ecological response in streams draining Costa Rica's Atlantic Slope.  Limnology and Oceanography 38: 753-774.

Vargas, R. J.  1995.  History of municipal water resources in Puerto Viejo, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica:  A socio-political perspective.  Masters Thesis, Institute of Ecology, University of Gerogia.  Athens, GA.  [Masters thesis work conducted at La Selva]

Applications are now being accepted for the Adopt-a-Stream Fellowship.  This fellowship, open to graduate students from U.S. member institutions, will fund international airfare and 3+ months at La Selva for one studnet per year to work in conjunction with this project.  Interested people should follow the standard OTS fellowhship application process as outlined on the web page and the fellowship information flyer available from the OTS North American office, <nao@acpub.duke.edu> or phone (919) 684-5774.  (See thesis titles listed above for previously funded projects)  The deadline to apply for this year is January 1, 1998.  A similar fellowship is also available for graduate students from Costa Rican institutions.  For information on this fellowship, contact Barbara Lewis in the San José office at <blewis@ns.ots.ac.cr> or (506) 240-6696.