Georgian College was successful in receiving $65,000 to contribute to the Lake Simcoe Clean-Up Fund (LSCUF), a federal grant program to support the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, community organizations, governments, land owners and Aboriginal communities and their research projects to help reduce phosphorous loads into Lake Simcoe.

Chris Berni, Manager, Centre of Applied Research and Innovation at Georgian and David Yole, faculty member and project lead for the LSCUF project at Georgian, hired two Environmental Technology students as part of their co-op to work on collecting data from Georgina, Snake and Fox Islands, and to work closely with the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation who own the land.

Students Mark Valentini and Stephanie Mawyin have spent the last three weeks on Georgina Island identifying septic tanks and recording data. In the weeks to come, they will collect temperature, conductivity, total suspended solids, percent dissolved oxygen and pH data from the near shore waters. On average, they conduct research at 15 to 20 residential properties per day. They also check for erosion at the shoreline properties, where they try to determine whether disappearing beaches are due to lake levels changing or erosion over time.

Once all the data for the area is collected, the students will enter it into a GIS (geographic information system) where it will be amalgamated with previous research. They will also report their findings to Kerry-Ann Charles, Environmental Co-ordinator of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. If any of their findings regarding septic tanks are suspicious, Kerry-Ann will relay this information to the residents and provide recommendations.

The students will work on the project for the rest of the summer, and will complete the GIS database during the school year. They are also planning an event to take place December 17 and 18, inviting all project stakeholders to come to the Barrie Campus to share their research and present their findings. As many as 100 people may be in attendance.

“This is one of the best co-op placements available to students in the Environmental Technology program,” says David.  “It’s a great opportunity for the students to apply what they are learning in the classroom, and gain the experience they need for their future careers.”

“I really enjoy working on this project because I have lived around Lake Simcoe my whole life,” says Mark. “It’s important to me to make a difference in the community I call home.”