Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- Engineering and biology students at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville are partnering to serve the Belmont community and the environment, by assessing the health of the Bonner Branch Stream as part of service learning.

Service learning is part of the Community University Partnership (CUP). This program combines the resources of UW-Extension and UW-Platteville to serve the communities of Southwest Wisconsin.

Mike Penn, associate professor of environmental engineering and Kris Wright, associate professor of biology, are combining their Storm Water and Freshwater Biology classes to research sources of pollution in the Bonner Branch Stream in Belmont.

Wright's Freshwater Biology class is investigating the habitat quality and organisms that live in the stream to determine the stream's health. Specifically, the class is concentrating on macro-invertebrate and habitat sampling and fish population analysis. Students are also inspecting how this data changes from one edge of the city to the other.

Storm water runoff and how to reduce pollutants it carries is what Penn's Storm Water class is focusing on. His students are examining whether or not storm water runoff is having a major impact on the stream. If it is affecting the health of the stream, the class will look at ways to prevent the pollution from traveling directly into the stream.

"Studies are being increasingly done in cities like Madison and Milwaukee and more and more focus is being placed on designing things to keep pollutants out of the water. That is the second step. The first step is trying to reduce the amount of pollutants," said Penn.

Both classes will combine their data and give a presentation to the director of public works, the village board and a high school environmental science class about their findings. "It benefits the community because they are getting information they wouldn't normally have," said Wright. A goal of the project is to educate the public on how storm water and everything in it goes directly into streams, lakes and rivers.

While serving the community, students are acquiring skills, which they may use in their careers. Elliot Reams, a freshwater biology student, stated, "My classmates and I are extremely eager to display our skills in actual real world circumstances." Students are also learning sampling techniques that are used in the real world and how humans and the environment relate to one another.

"Overall, this experience has given us the chance to demonstrate what we are capable of and allows us to help the community," concluded Reams.

Anyone wanting more information on the project may contact Wright at (608) 342-1689 or by e-mail at wrightk@uwplatt.edu Anyone wanting to learn more about CUP or service learning may contact Sue Curtis, CUP program coordinator at (608) 342-1308 or by e-mail atcurtissu@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Kris Wright, associate professor of biology, (608) 342-1689, wrightk@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Krystle Kurdi, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, kurdik@uwplatt.edu