The Watershed Access Lab (WAL) at Bridgewater State University offers courses to train educators on current technology used in watershed assessment. These courses promote watershed assessment as a tool in environmental education and watershed stewardship. The WAL courses and student projects emphasize hands on training in water quality assessment using computerized water quality monitoring, macroinvertebrates as bio indicators of river health and the use of ArcView GIS. The project goal is to evaluate the land use impacts on water quality in the participating school district's community. In the spring, following each team's project completion, the Watershed Access Lab Seminar takes place at Bridgewater State University where school teams present the results of their watershed investigations.
Submissions from 2009
Life in the Runnins River (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
Macroinvertabrate and Water Quality Survey of Smelt Brook (East Middle School, Braintree, Massachusetts)
Parking Lot Discharge Study (East Middle School, Braintree, Massachusetts)
Pond Meadow Stream: Monitoring Stream Health Using Benthic Macroinvertebrates (East Middle School, Braintree, Massachusetts)
RCMS MI TEAM Macro-Invertebrate Stream Monitoring (Randolph Community Middle School, Randolph, Massachusetts)
RiverNet Watershed Access Lab Program Overview - Spring 2009, Kevin Curry
River Watch 2009 (Hanson Middle School, Hanson, Massachusetts)
Runnins River (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
Runnins River Project (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
Stream Biomonitoring on High Street, Randolph (Randolph Community Middle School, Randolph, Massachusetts)
The Effect of Draining Forge Pond on the Assonet River (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
The Effect of the Waste Water Treatment Plant on the Nemasket River (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
The Quashnet River Project: Assessing the Health of a River Using Water Chemistry and Biomonitoring Data (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Watershed Vocabulary (Randolph Community Middle School, Randolph, Massachusetts)
Submissions from 2008
Abbott Run Annual Study 2008 (North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts)
Benthic Macroinvertebrates: An Analysis of the Mashpee River (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Benthic Macroinvertebrates: An Analysis of the Quashnet River (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Burr’s Pond and Runnins River – An Annual Watershed Survey 2008 (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
Comparative Nutrient Data for Two Locations on the Marstons Mills River (Barnstable High School, Hyannis, Massachusetts)
Fore! The Effect of Poquoy Brook Golf Course on the Water Quality of Poquoy Brook (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
River Watch 2008 (Hanson Middle School, Hanson, Massachusetts)
The Effect of the Middleboro Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Water Quality of the Nemasket River (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Submissions from 2007
Abbott Run River Study (North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts)
Agawam River Project – Year 6 – River Water and Eel Grass (St. Margaret Regional School, Bourne, Massachusetts)
Benthic Macroinvertebrate Exploration in the Rumford River (Qualters Middle School, Mansfield, Massachusetts)
Burr’s Pond and the Runnins River - An Annual Watershed Survey (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
Comparative Nutrient Data for Two Locations on the Marstons Mills River (Barnstable High School, Hyannis, Massachusetts)
Following Fall Brook (Middleborough High School, Middleborough, Massachusetts)
Footprints (Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, Whitman, Massachusetts)
How Healthy is Furnace Brook (Marshfield High School, Marshfield, Massachusetts)
Is the Nemasket River Stressed Out? (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Palmer River Water Discharge and Nutrient Study (Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, Dighton, Massachusetts)
River Characterization of the Assonet River (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
RiverNet Watershed Access Lab Program Overview 2007, Kevin Curry
RiverNet Watershed Access Lab Program Overview - Dec. 2007, Kevin Curry
Rumford River Monitoring Project (Norton High School, Norton, Massachusetts)
Submissions from 2006
Abbott Run River Study (North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts)
Agawam River Study: Year 5 (St. Margaret Regional School, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts)
Characterization Survey of Rattlesnake Brook (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Following Fall Brook (Middleborough High School, Middleborough, Massachusetts)
Quaker Run Watershed Analysis (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Quashnet River Survey (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Survey of Area Streams Near Hanover High School (Hanover High School, Hanover, Massachusetts)
The Comparison of Leonard Washburn Brook and Poquoy Brook (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Water Quality Project: Mashpee River Study (Mashpee High School, Mashpee, Massachusetts)
Water Quality Results from Indian Head River, Hanover, MA (South Shore Vocational Technical High School, Hanover, Massachusetts)
Submissions from 2005
A Comparison of Divergent Sites on the Farm River: Wetlands vs. Industry (Braintree High School, Braintree, Massachusetts)
A Comparison Study: Fall Book and a Natural Spring; Focus: Water Chemistry (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
A River with History: Evaluating the Aberjona River (Reading High School, Reading, Massachusetts)
A Water Quality Study of Germany Brook, A Tributary of the Neponset River (Boston College High School, Boston, Massachusetts)