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Sound Rivers’ Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz and Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register treated Lenoir Community College biology students to an outdoor classroom experience this week.

The curriculum: trash traps and water quality sampling.

“It’s always a really cool opportunity to connect with students outside of the classroom and try to get them excited about pursuing careers in science and the environmental field,” Taylor said.

The group met up at the trash trap on Adkin Branch in Kinston, donned waders and got into the creek to remove more than 20 pounds of trash captured by the passive litter-collection device and talk about what they found there.

“In addition to cleaning out the trash trap, I was able to give the group a sampling demonstration and explain what exactly we’re looking for when testing our waters,” Taylor said. “We did a water-quality assessment of Adkin Branch, which involved visual observations of the creek, collecting bacteria samples and checking the levels of things like pH and dissolved oxygen.”

In addition to the lessons on trash and water-quality, Taylor and Emily both shared their own experiences, highlighting the different paths they took that lead them to work for Sound Rivers — and for clean water.

The trash trap on Adkin Branch is No. 4 of 10 trash traps Sound Rivers has installed on urban waterways throughout the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds, as part of its Litter-Free Rivers program. If you or your group would be interested in working for water quality and volunteering to clean out a trash trap or Adopt a Trash Trap for a month, check out the following:

More information about the Adopt A Trash Trap program.

Find out when and where the next trash trap cleanouts are scheduled here.

Like Sound Rivers’ ever-expanding Litter-Free Rivers program? We definitely do! Donate to support keeping your waterways litter-free!