KITTS HILL - For some students at Symmes Valley, St. Joseph and Rock Hill high schools, a lesson on water quality is definitely hands-on and feet-in.

They are learning about the conditions of area creeks and streams by standing in the middle of them.

The stream water monitoring project is under the supervision of the Lawrence Soil and Water District, which got a $1,982 grant from the Ohio EPA's Environmental Education Fund late last year to pay for the necessary equipment.

Soil and Water Education Coordinator Carrie Yaniko said

the idea is to evaluate the quality of the streams by inspecting what lives in and around them.

"We evaluate how the quality of the streams change, Yaniko said. "We record air temperature, water temperature, insects and the PH of the water. We look at the land uses within the watershed, what's upstream, if there is any construction, fields, farms, logging, houses, oil or gas drilling. These are things that can affect the condition of the streams."

The process involved standing in the creek and collecting solids from the creek bed in a specially designed net. Once the water drains out, the contents are inspected for macroinvertebrates living in the water. Students also lift up rocks and see what may be beneath them.

Because of

the cold, wet winter, students waited until spring to actually conduct on-site monitoring.

Symmes Valley's Future Farmers of America club is keeping tabs on Sharps Creek, Rock Hill students are monitoring

Sperry Fork and St. Joseph students are monitoring Little Storms Creek.

"I hope they gain an understanding of how important it is to keep our streams healthy," Yaniko said. "I also hope they learn something about the stream itself and what they can do to help it."