Water was the subject, and will continue to be the subject this fall for students in the United States-Australisa Virtual Environmental Partnership.

Boothbay Region High School students in Lauren Graham's oceanography and ecology classes. This March, seniors and juniors formed one of the eight teams in eight areas of the United States that were matched with students in Australian schools located in similar climates and latitudes.

Boothbay was matched with the Don College high school in Tasmania, Australia.

The project highlights the methods each area uses to provide clean water to each of the communities and the challenges they face. There are eight components to the student water cycle project: the water source, how it is stored, treatment, distribution, usage, waste water treatment/disinfection, disposal and environmental impact.

Graham's students went on a field trip to the Boothbay Region Water District to see how water is treated for use.

“Jon (Ziegra) and the employees were great,” Graham said. “We all learned a lot from them, including me. They were all very knowledgeable about the processes there. None of us had any idea how much training you have to have to work at the water district.”

The project will be completed by the Tasmanian students over the summer while the U.S. students are on summer break.

Graham, who also teaches chemistry and biology, led her spring team comprised of seniors Sam Schwehm, Alex Owen, Kam Markee, Jessie Vander, Sarah Caron Stephen Barter, Brady Duncan and Mikayla McFetridge (now BRHS graduates) and juniors Sophia Thayer, Hannah Brewer, Caleb Colby, Josiah Purin, Hannah Winslow, Benn Scully, Jude Alamo and Tori Schmid.

Barter and Duncan are the only two 2013 graduates planning to continue with the project along with the new seniors in the fall. All of the juniors will be back on board to complete the work that will include taking water samples

The final project is a student-created website to showcase the project, their data and findings and tell their water story about the local water cycle, and its environmental and ecological sustainability.

“In the fall, the project will continue after school hours instead of during the school day …. This will make it easier for the kids to Skype with the kids in Tasmania,” Graham said. “The students haven't had the opportunity to interact yet. They're really looking forward to talking to them.”

Graham expects the remaining three of the six the modules will be completed by mid-October.

And, while no definitive decision has been made, the possibility still exists for Boothbay students to present their project findings in Washington, D.C., with the Australian students Skyping in for a joint presentation.

“The main project goals also include expanding technological literacy in schools,” Graham said. “With our technology, learning can be done anywhere in the world.  If this takes off, it will change the way we teach and learn.”

A cool perk for all of the students: they will become members of the International Exchange Alumni U.S. State Department's Alumni Network for all past and current U.S. government-sponsored exchange program participants (State Department definition). Graham said this designation could really help open some doors for them.

The $100,000 grant for the international cyber study is through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State. Dr. Cynthia Heil, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, contributed to parts of the grant proposal for the project, “How Sustainable Is Your Local Water Cycle.” Dr. Judith O'Neil at UMCES was the lead author of the collaborative proposal.

In addition to  Bigelow,  the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, are also involved in this collaborative study.

Dr. Heil and Graham will be the speakers at a Cafe Scientifique presentation, as part of the Bigelow series,  at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, on Tuesday, August 6.

To see the students' research has progressed, visit the project website: www.usaus-h2o.org.