Students from Shaler Area High School’s ecology club hit the Etna streets armed with stencils and spray paint last week to tell all residents living in the Pine Creek Watershed that fish live downstream and they like their water clean.
“I really love the environment,” said Emily Ehrenberger, 14, a freshman at Shaler Area. “This is awesome because I don’t think that many people know this thing goes right into the river.”
This thing she referred to was a street corner opening of a sewer drain located just off Dewey Street in Etna. Emily was one of 18 students in the high school’s ecology club or the gifted and talented education (GATE) program to arrive by bus on a sunny afternoon last Thursday and drop their backpacks in the back of their teachers’ cars, gather stencils and spray paint and begin labeling 300 sewer drains and catch basins along a several block area.
Rich Sweazen and Keith Taylor from Etna’s public works department were waiting in their truck when the students arrived and donned their orange safety vests, gathered brooms and were instructed by Kate Elder and Christina Palladino, Shaler Area GATE teachers, on how to carefully stencil their message near each opening.
The high school partnered with Alcosan and the borough of Etna to indentify and label storm drains located in the Pine Creek watershed to educate the public and combat water pollution. The residents in the area already had been advised about the program, just in case seeing teenagers with spray paint in their neighborhood aroused any suspicions.
Mary Ellen Ramage, borough manager and secretary, said the Etna board had approved the project last spring. Alcosan sent the stenciling supplies and the teachers were trained in the proper way to label the grates and drains. “We’re really pleased with having such a good partnership with the district,” she said.
Ms. Palladino said in addition to the labeling project that day, students from Shaler Area High School have long volunteered to plant and help maintain four vegetable gardens in the borough that provide food to local food banks. “That garden has provided thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables to two food banks for more than five years,” she said.
In the meantime, Ms. Elder began instructing students how to place the stencils, hold them down with a foot and apply the white spray paint carefully on the breezy afternoon. The results were a small fish and the simple message: “Dump no waste -- drains to river.”
Students broke into groups of three and each took a quadrant of the borough streets that headed uphill from All Saints Church and School. Laura Stegman, 15, a sophomore member of the ecology club, held a stencil while classmate Amanda Groce, 16, a sophomore and Samantha Eklund, 15, sophomore, managed the broom and spray paint. “We thought it would be fun to come down and help out the community,” Laura said.
“The environment isn’t as good as it used to be,” said Amanda. “We want people to know this drain goes to the river. Some people dump oil and garbage down here and we want to make them aware that this goes to where the fish are.”
“We wanted to help raise awareness that what they throw into the drains goes into the river,” Samantha said.
“Seeing the fish makes people stop and read the labels,” said Mrs. Ramage. Creating awareness is vital. “It makes them think about that.”
Etna has a combined sewage system. According to Alcosan, which has run the stenciling programs for years, pollutants can damage local rivers and streams, which, along with habitat for fish and other wildlife, provides about 90 percent of public drinking water.
Billy Hartung, 14, a freshman at Shaler Area, lives on Dewey Street in Etna. He was working with fellow freshman Sean Lang, 14, and Josh Greiff, 15, a sophomore.
“It’s an interesting way to help spread awareness,” Josh said.
“Now that I know what the cause is for,” said Sean, “I feel like we should be doing this in other places, not just in Etna.”
But from the local perspective, Billy said: “It feels nice to know the pollution isn’t going to come from my neighborhood.”
Rita Michel, freelance writer, suburbanliving@post-gazette.com
First Published: October 23, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
