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- Ami Eckard-Lee: How can rain
be bad for lakes?

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Seems counterintuitive, right?

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Shouldn't more water
be a good thing?

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Well, the answer is not always.

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Climate change is disrupting
weather patterns

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all over the world.

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In some places, it's
leading to droughts,

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while in other areas,

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it can cause more frequent
and intense rainfall events.

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Too much water can actually
lower the water quality

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in some rivers and lakes,

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and it all depends
on how we manage water...

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...on land.

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[bright music]

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I'm here in Madison, Wisconsin,
a city surrounded by lakes

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along with a plethora
of streams, rivers,

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creeks, and ponds.

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With all that water around,

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it's not surprising
there are people

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whose whole job is to study
these bodies of water.

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These are limnologists.

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And one of them
is gonna take us out

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on Lake Mendota so we can get
to the source of this issue

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of water quality.

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How might things like rainfall

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affect the water quality
in rivers and lakes?

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- David Ortiz: Yeah,
rain is super important

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and is a really big
driving force in water quality.

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With changing climate,

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the Midwest specifically
is expected to get more wet

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and experience more frequent
high-intensity rain events.

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So, when that rain is moving
through the landscape,

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water is a really good
at dissolving and moving things.

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So, that includes, like,
pollutants or nutrients

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and transporting it
into the streams and rivers

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as opposed to kind of
infiltrating into the soil.

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For Lake Mendota

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and the Yahara Watershed, it's
mainly agricultural runoff,

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generally phosphorus.

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That's the pollutant of concern.

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Cityscapes can also contribute
to runoff concerns

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for aquatic ecosystems.

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So, if you have, like,
a really manicured lawn,

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if you have a lot of fertilizers
to keep it green,

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those can also contribute
to phosphorus and nutrients

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entering the water body.

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Not picking up after pets,
like, their waste

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can also contribute
to urban runoff.

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Litter, leaves,

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they can actually release
a lot of phosphorus.

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Salt is a really big one,

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salt that is used
to de-ice roads.

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It's bad for the organisms
that live in water.

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So, yeah, just slightly
different runoff pollutants

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are entering the watershed.

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- So, how does that end up
affecting the lake?

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- Yeah, it's affecting lakes
and rivers

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in a lot of different ways.

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So, if you have too much
phosphorus,

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algae and aquatic plants
can grow uncontrollably.

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So, if you have too much algae,
you can change pH.

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Like, so, amphibians and fish
are really sensitive

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to pH levels.
- Ami: Okay.

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- David: Dissolved oxygen
can decrease.

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That huge swing is what often
triggers fish kills.

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- Ami: Fish kills?
- David: Yeah, like--

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- Ami: 'Cause fish need
to breathe oxygen, right?

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- David: Yeah.

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And then, if also you have
too much algae,

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you can actually have
shading effects going on.

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And not enough light is entering
to allow macrophytes to grow,

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aquatic plants grow.
- Okay, okay.

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So, affects everything
kind of in these different ways.

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- Also, water temperatures
have been increasing.

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And cyanobacteria
like warmer temperatures.

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- Okay.
- Cyanobacteria known

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to produce toxins
that are harmful to humans.

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And, if a lake warms up quicker
every year,

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it's giving more time
for cyanobacteria blooms

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to occur.

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- Our waterways are extremely
connected,

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and actions taken upstream
can have a major impact

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on the water quality of a lake
that's miles away.

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Protecting the quality
of our waterways

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is important
for the aquatic ecosystem

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and the species that
depend on it to survive,

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but also for the health
and safety of anyone

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who wants to enjoy
those spaces for recreation.

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Let's head over
to Starkweather Creek

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to meet up with a science class

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from Malcolm Shabazz
City High School

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to learn more about water
quality in our communities.

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- Brian Counselman: It's kind of
a nice little hidden gem

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when you're actually on it.

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If you just read about it in the
news, it won't be like, oh,

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but when you look around,
it's pretty, right?

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And pretty matters sometimes
too,

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of, like, advocating for stuff,
so.

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- Has doing this class
and learning more

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about the watershed and all the
things going into it

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changed how you think
about the water

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and how you interact with it?
- Kei Davis: Yes.

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- August Windel: I have noticed
here in Madison,

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again, there's a lot of runoff.

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And so, just the water quality
is not good.

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As a kid, I would actually swim
in the lakes here a lot,

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and at first,
I didn't see a problem with it.

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And as I was growing older,
I was like,

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"Hmm, I can't see my hands
below the water."

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- Growing up in Madison and
having a lot of water access,

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as a kid, there used to be
a lot of, like,

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"Yeah, there's an algae bloom,

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you can't really go
in the water."

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And then, you grow up,

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and you're looking out at it,
and you're like,

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"Yeah, these issues have always
been here,

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but I'm witnessing
as it gets worse."

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We gotta do something
about that.

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- Yeah, it's not supposed
to be that way.

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- It's not supposed to do that.

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- What would you say people
should do about pollution?

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- Educating yourself on it,

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and figuring out what you can do
to prevent from contributing.

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- If you don't know, you don't
know what you're doing wrong.

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There's resources and knowledge
if you just ask people.

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- Uh-huh.

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- Yeah, and the more
you protect this

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and think about
the water quality,

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you know, then it kind of does
this, like, circle

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where it fuels
more protection in the future.

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Water is amazing.

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I spend much time with water.

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I like being around water.

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You know, we'd love to go
swimming, but there's some days

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where you have to say no
to your nine-year-old

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and you're like, oh, yeah,
that's weird to have to, like,

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be in a city surrounded by lakes
and say, "Don't swim."

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They have the frustration,

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they have the anxiety around
some of these issues,

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but they aren't sure what to do
with that.

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And so, I think that's where
a class like this

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is really important of, like,

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here's where you can channel
that into an actionable thing.

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You can go build something,
you can educate around something

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or advocate,
you know, think globally.

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Hugely important to understand
the context, but act locally.

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That's one of our emphases
with the class of like,

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how can we kind of find this
balance of, like,

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talk about the
freshwater ecosystems,

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talk about the streams,

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talk about some of the
challenges

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that are happening there,

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but also hopefully have students
fall in love with them enough

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that they care enough
to protect 'em.

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Kind of the idea of like,

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if you don't know a thing,
you're not gonna care about it,

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and if you don't care about it,
you're not gonna protect it.

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- Water quality does not just
affect the species

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who live in the water.

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It also affects everything
that utilizes water too.

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So, if water quality
affects us all,

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what can we do to protect the
quality of the water here

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in our communities?

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- Paul Dearlove: We all have an
impact on these lakes

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in terms of the individual
decisions that we make

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and how we treat the land,
how we use the water.

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We have opportunities
everywhere.

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There are opportunities
to make these waterways,

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lake like Lake Wingra,

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remain these very special,
beautiful places.

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But it's gonna require
that we take action.

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And so, what we do
as an organization

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is provide programs like
water quality monitoring.

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We have a completely
volunteer-run monitoring program

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called Lake Forecast.

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These volunteers
are citizen scientists

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and they take
different measurements.

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They upload that information,
and this allows us

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to track changing water quality
conditions.

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That information from our
citizen scientists

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is extremely valuable

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because it sort of makes
all this data

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accessible and understandable,

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so that the public in different
communities can be informed,

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and they can advocate
for the changes

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that are needed
to improve these ecosystems.

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- What kind of data
do you collect?

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- Amelia Welton:
Visual observations, as like,

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how much algae there is
in the lake.

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And then, we do air temp
and water temp.

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- Miranda Weidert: And then,
this is for water clarity.

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- And how often do you come
and do this?

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- All: Every week.
- Really?

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What have you learned by doing
this project?

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- Stella Gomez Phillips:
I have learned that

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we can make an impact on, like,
the lake.

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- Like, be mindful about what
you're putting on the ground

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because it doesn't just go away,
it doesn't go away.

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It goes somewhere after that.

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- And where it goes is the lake.
- Yeah.

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- What would you recommend
individuals can do

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to help their area waterways?

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- Get involved
in citizen science!

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- It's hard to look at something
as large as a lake

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and believe your actions could
make a noticeable difference,

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but they can.

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Groups like the Clean Lakes
Alliance help raise awareness

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around positive actions
individuals can take

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to protect the water
in their community.

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So, what can people do

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to help protect
these shared waters?

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You can start at home by raking
leaves out of the gutter,

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or making sure to pick up your
pet's waste wherever they go.

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You can also create a rain
garden at home, at your school,

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or somewhere else
in your community

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to help rainwater absorb
into the ground better,

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helping to prevent runoff.

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Or become a citizen scientist
like Amelia, Miranda, and Stella

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and help collect the data
that's used to create the rules

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and regulations
that protect our waterways.

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These are actions you can take
to make a direct impact

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on your community.

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So, next time you're out
enjoying the local beach,

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fishing from the dock,
or kayaking downstream,

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you can know that your actions
are making a difference

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in the places you live and play.

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Any notes?

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- Producer: Less awkward.
[Ami laughs]

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- Okay.

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I'm here at Starkweather Creek
to learn more about--

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Never mind, sorry.