Blue Team Blog Series: Entry Two; Rudy Ornelas

Blue Team student Rudy Ornelas with a basic water sampling kit during week 1 of the Blue Team program.

Working for Groundwork Denver on the Blue Team these past few weeks has been such a great experience. My favorite part about this program so far is all the new things that I have learned. One thing that I have learnt, in recent years the lower Bear Creek has shown high levels of E. coli contamination. I’ve also learned this bacterium can be harmful if ingested. With this information a team of six Sheridan High School students have taken on a water stewardship project to help improve the water quality of the Bear Creek in the form of the Groundwork Denver Blue Team. We go out to the Bear Creek and test a variety of different things; like Dissolved Oxygen levels, pH levels, and the flow of the stream. We also take a 100ml sample of the stream water so it can be tested for E. coli in a lab. Groundwork Denver has opened my eyes to this problem and I am willing to take on this water stewardship project to help my community.