Project story: Schoolchildren join the fight against agricultural pollution

Schoolchildren in the Philippines have joined an innovative scheme to help farmers minimise agricultural run-off into waterways in both Laguna de Bay in the Philippines and the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia.

Laguna de Bay is the largest source of fresh water in the Philippines and is earmarked to provide water to inner-city Manila in the near future. However, run-off from nearby agricultural activities is seeping into surrounding waterways and contaminating Laguna de Bay.

ACIAR-funded researchers are attempting to identify the causes of the pollution, and are working with local organisations and farmers to minimise the amounts of pesticide, nutrient pollutants and sediment flowing into the system.

But a severe lack of rainfall data in the area is hampering the researchers’ ability to understand the role that heavy rainfall has in transporting pollutants into water systems.

To counter this, rain gauges were set up in nine schools across the catchment area, and students and teachers received training to accurately measure rainfall. The students were then given pre-paid mobile phones with which they can text their readings straight into a central database.

Not only does the system provide considerable educational value to the children, but it also provides scientists with an invaluable source of rainfall statistics in the area, helping them to identify trends between rainfall and water contamination.

As with many ACIAR projects the research conducted in the Philippines also has applications in Australia. In the Mt Lofty Ranges of South Australia, CSIRO Land and Water are working with grape, apple, pear and cherry growers to monitor run-off from their orchards to minimise off-site transport. It will help the industry groups to apply better on-farm management practices to minimise off-site migration of nutrients, pesticides and sediments and help secure and comply with Environmental Management Systems (EMS) accreditation.

ACIAR Research Program Manager

Dr Gamini Keerthisinghe, Research Program Manager, Soil Management and Crop Nutrition
Phone: +61 2 6217 0558
Email: gamini [dot] keerthisinghe [at] aciar [dot] gov [dot] au

Project contacts

Dr Rai Kookana of CSIRO Land and Water SA
Dr Rex Cruz of University of the Philippines at Los Banos, Philippines
Mr Joey Carino of Laguna Lake Development Authority, Philippines

CSIRO project site: http://www.clw.csiro.au/research/biogeochemistry/organics/projects/mtlof...