OPC member Ric Porter visited the fifth grade class at Orleans Elementary School to present a lesson on the dangers of too much phosphate in Orleans' ponds. Volunteers from the Town of Orleans have been monitoring 18 ponds for the past five years.  Students learned that 16 of the18 ponds chosen for testing "have ecological impairments" showing "oxygen levels worse than state surface water quality thresholds."  Every pond also shows total phosphorus concentrations too high for levels developed by the Cape Cod Commission for Cape ponds.

A detailed review was completed by the Cape Cod Commission on five ponds selected by the Orleans Marine and Fresh Water Quality Task Force. These included Bakers, Bolands, Cedar, Crystal, and Pilgrim.

The class learned that, of the five ponds, Bakers was in the best condition and Cedar was the worst.  Discussion evolved around what we could do to improve the water quality in Orleans. Students were then given the challenge of creating a poster or essay showing what they learned and they were encouraged to enter their work into a contest sponsored by the Orleans Pond Coalition. Gift certificates to a local bookstore were presented to the winners.

And the winners were:
Essay contest - 1st place:  Kyra Wells; 2^nd place:  Jane Marks; 3rd place:  Colton Leach; Honorable Mention:  Kathryn Hoffman.

Poster contest - 1^st place:  Hannah Montoya; 2^nd place:  Kris Wakefield; 3^rd place:  Hayley Benz;  Honorable Mentions:  Coralea Geraniotis, Abby Sullivan, and Willy Boyd.

Orleans Pond Coalition extends its congratulations to everyone who submitted an entry.  A job well done!  The posters and essays were on display in the Skaket Room of Town Hall in spring of 2008.

Orleans Pond Coalition wishes to thank the principal and teachers for providing students with this opportunity for curriculum enhancement and learnings about our own local environment.  This is the third year in which similar lessons have been provided to the students by OPC.