On October 7, Mr. Domico’s Advanced Chemistry Class visited the Vertical Flow Ponds. It is located off the Weber Road in Lawrence Township. Mr. Domico says: “The Vertical Flow Ponds were installed by Lawrence and the Clearfield County Conservation District with a grant provided by the PA Department of Environmental Protection. The water is diverted through the ponds and is to lower the Ph and catch dissolved metals from flowing into a larger stream. This stream is a small tributary that flows into the West Branch of the Susquehanna.”

While the eleventh and twelfth grade students were at the streams, they used Vernier Probes and sensors to measure the amount of Ph, conductivity, and temperature of the water as it was leaving the stream. In class the students were learning about how to test water for Ph and conductivity. The students will set up a schedule where they will be able to monitor how effective the pond is in treating the acid mine drainage. Then, the results will be recorded on a Watershed database.

The class was able to benefit many ways from this trip. The students got the opportunity to apply what they learned in class while they were at the ponds. Some of the things that were able to expand on outside of the classroom was acid-base chemistry, precipitation reactions, and electrolyte chemistry.

This was a training trip for the students to hopefully allow them to be able to monitor the ponds in the winter and the spring.