While Mitchell is away, Sofia has agreed to be our Dolphinkids journalist.  She has done an amazing job with her first report, on Tracey’s visit!  Fabulous work, Sofia.   😎

On Tuesday the 30th of August our class had a visit from Tracey who is from the Cape to Cape Catchment Group. Tracey told us about some of the things that can pollute rivers like the Margaret River. I would like to list some of the things that can pollute the river. Here they are:
• Fertilizer (makes algae grow)
• Rubbish (can kill the Fish and Marron )
• Manure ( can change the colour  of the river )
Each student came and each poured a bit of their things that pollute the river into the tub with water in it. Each time the water changed, whether its colour changed or it just got more disgusting.

We can make the river clean and healthy. Even if you do something very small you could make a big difference. Here I will tell you how you can do it.

HOW WE CAN STOP THE ALGAE FROM GROWING:

The thing that causes algae to grow is fertilizer. People use fertilizer for plants. You should never put it down the drain because anything you put down the drain will go down and into the river. So for your plants, instead of using fertilizer you could use manure. There are lots more ways but they are very different to this way. Most farmers use fertilizer for their plants but now they are starting to be organic. Lots of the pollutions that can happen are caused by farmers.

HOW WE CAN STOP THE COLOUR OF THE WATER CHANGING:

The thing that causes the water to change colour is the manure. Farmers have cows that poo in the river, however they can build fences around their properties so then there cows can’t escape and go and poo in the river. The poo is bad for the river and makes it somehow change colour. The colour it changes to is like a light brown kind of mixed with white. The colour of the river when its light brown makes people think that the river is disgusting and then they don’t want to go in it. So all farmers have to do is build fences around their properties and make sure their animals don’t escape, especially the cows.

HOW WE CAN STOP THE ANIMALS FROM DYING:

The thing that that causes most fish and jellyfish to die is the rubbish. Lots of people litter, when the rubbish goes down the drain it goes through a water cycle and ends up in the river. Lots of people don’t realize where their rubbish ends up, they just litter and don’t care. They never realize what they are doing. So all they do is litter. You can help by picking up bits of rubbish that you see lying around on the beach or in town. You can also help by doing your part on Clean Up Australia Day. Fish could get stuck in the plastic bag, which they can’t breathe in and then they die. Turtles could eat a plastic bag, which they can’t breathe in and then they die.

So those ways are just are a few ways of how you can keep our river healthy. Even though Tracey gave us things that are just examples of pollution, they still reacted like the real pollution. Our class had lots of fun learning about river pollution.

By Sofia Gaul