Eighth grade students test water samples
On Tuesday, October 12, Prairie Wind Middle School eighth grade earth science students with the help of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Otter Tail County Soil and Water Conservation Service tested 129 water samples for the presence of nitrates.
Prior to the testing date students were able to take GPS locates of their wells. These locations, plus the data that students gathered about their wells from the adult owners will be placed into a database by the high school environmental science students. The database will then be mapped into a GIS program to produce maps of well locations and nitrate levels. These maps and the corresponding data will be used by the MN Department of Ag to follow the health of the aquifer. Students have been working annually with the MN Department of Ag and the SWCS since the fall of 1995.