News

Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz visited Bath this week as guests of “Cousins Camp,” an official gathering of the grandchildren of Patsy and Rusty Duke.

Ages 6 to 16, the cousins were introduced to Sound Rivers’ work, the importance of water quality and how to test water quality.

“It was so much fun. All of the kids were so sweet and asking really good questions,” Emily said. “Some of them were from Greensboro and Raleigh and we talked about how issues might be different there than in Bath.”

“They had a lot of questions about jellyfish,” Katey said.

“Yeah, they pretty much exhausted our knowledge of jellyfish,” Emily added.

The program didn’t end there: the children were divided into water-quality sampling teams, were armed with sampling equipment, clipboards and thermometers to gather water samples off their grandparents’ dock. Post-collection, Katey and Emily brought out IDEXX trays from last week’s Swim Guide sampling to show them how bacteria-laden water glows purple under a black light.

“Some of the kids thought it was really cool because the cells glowed, but we had our fair share of ‘eeeews,’ because we explained that the glow is E. coli in the water and E. coli usually comes from poop. It’s always a win with the kids if they get to talk about poop — they find that hilarious,” Emily laughed. “But then we talked about how pollution and bacteria can get into the water, and it was really great to watch them piece together how our actions can impact the environment.”

Katey said the afternoon spent with the Dukes’ eight grandchildren touched on many water-quality related issues, including the importance of wetlands.

“This is part of our strategic priorities: education for younger generations,” Katey said. “We introduce them to aspects of their environment and hopefully they continue their interest and passion and spread that awareness to other younguns’.”

Sharing their passion for clean water appeared to make an impression on this group of river-loving children.

“Some of them said they wanted to be Riverkeepers when they grow up,” Emily said.

Like Sound Rivers’ educational outreach? We love it! Join/renew your Sound Rivers membership today to support the critical job of teaching younger generations the importance of clean water!