A bug's life: Insects tell the story of Winter River water quality
Cody MacKay | CBC News | Posted: October 9, 2017 2:00 PM | Last Updated: October 9, 2017
'You basically just walk along the stream bottom, kicking your feet, doing a little dance'
If you happen to be travelling the Winter River trail, try not to be alarmed by the people kicking and dancing in the water.
Scientists with the Winter River-Tracadie Bay Watershed Association are rummaging through the waters, collecting bugs to examine the water quality of the river.
The project was on a trial basis last year, as the scientists visited a few spots in the river — which is also Charlottetown's water supply. This year the group plans on visiting 15 different sites.
Sarah Wheatley, co-ordinator for the watershed group, is heading the project.
She said they're collecting bugs that are "bio indicators" — little insects of all shapes and sizes living on the riverbed that are being gathered in a unique way.
'Doing a little dance' to gather up bugs
"You basically just walk along the stream bottom kicking your feet, doing a little dance and shuffling and trying to get all those bugs that are on the bottom dislodged from the rocks they've been living on and under," Wheatley said.
The bugs are collected in nets dragged along the riverbed dance floor.
Once the tiny bugs are collected, they're sent off to a lab where they really tell their tale.
"We use that information and a database from Environment Canada to tell us which type of bugs we should find in our area and compare that to what we did find in our area."
If they find the bugs that should be living there, then that's great news, Wheatley said.
However, if they don't find the bugs they're looking for, that starts to raise some red flags about the area's water quality.
'If there was a fish kill, then it also kills bugs'
Winter River flows between many farms, which initially raised fish kill worries, Wheatley said.
"Unless a scientist is out there and happen to measure that situation at the minute that it happens, then you'd miss [the fish kill] if you were just collecting water samples," she said.
"But, if you're collecting bugs then the bug has been living there that whole summer. If something happened, if there was a fish kill, then it also kills bugs."
The group had a welcome surprise when they tested water near several farms.
"We weren't expecting that great of water quality, but the bugs said that things were doing actually quite well there, the farmers in that area were doing a much better job than we had given them credit for," Wheatley said.
Other areas of the river may have less "pristine conditions" than the group had hoped, though the data they're collecting is one "piece of the puzzle" to investigate future problems, if they exist, in the river.
The group plans to continuing work throughout the fall.
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