BAY MINETTE, Alabama — The North Baldwin Coalition for Excellence in Education offered a “Water Works” camp that focused on water quality through field trips and hands-on applications.

Taught by Jennifer Jones, campers visited Live Oak Landing to collect water samples from river and pond. The students compared the water quality of the two – performing chemical tests to check the pH, oxygen level, ammonia level, etc. The boys learned why the levels need to be within a certain range for optimal living conditions.

The campers created a pond ecosystem of their own; built bottle rockets (but weather did not allow them to be shot outside because electricity had to be used). Because they could not be shot, students attempted to make balloon rockets.

The campers learned that we all live in a watershed and what we do on land does affect the quality of water in our streams, rivers, ocean and the things we can do to protect our waters.

The students built water aquifers and learned how to use microscopes, observed the pond water and life in a drop of water.

On the final day, they visited North Baldwin Utilities to learn the process they use to clean and dispose of the wastewater, then learned how water is pumped and transported from the ground to our homes.

For more information about other camps offered by the education foundation, visit nbcee.org.