OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Oct. 11, 2000 (International Teledata Group) —Lettuce seeds and onion bulbs are two of the ingredients that will be used by high school students demonstrating simple water quality tests at the Education Training Fair this week at Montreal's Place Bonaventure. Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is hosting the presentation, which will involve students from Granby's Sacré-Coeur high school.
L'Ecole secondaire Sacré-Coeur is part of AQUAtox 2000, the International School Network on Water Toxicity. This Network, which gathers more than 90 schools around the world, was created by IDRC in 1998. AQUAtox 2000 was designed to give students an opportunity to participate in experimental research while creating a global picture of the state of water on the planet.
The students and teachers were also able to work hand-in-hand with scientists from both industrialized and developing countries. The young student researchers have been learning how to utilize simple and inexpensive experimental tests to measure chemical toxicity and microbiological pollution in water samples taken directly from their local environments. In addition to using lettuce seeds and onion bulbs, the students have been conducting the tests with fresh-water hydra, a microscopic aquatic animal, and Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S). AQUAtox 2000 is part of IDRC's Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Program.
Support for AQUAtox 2000 is provided by IDRC in partnership with Environment Canada's Biosphere. Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing-country scientists and communities find their own solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems through research.
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