ABOUT ME
Hi, my name is Stella and I am 17 years old. I live along the LaHave River and I am very sad that I can't swim in my river. For years now, people have been flushing their toilets directly into the water through straight pipes. Straight pipes are illegal, but no one is telling people to stop. Putting human waste in our waterways is so gross and wrong. I decided to start a project on testing the river after my mom explained to me how high the fecal levels really are. Most people thought the river was getting healthier, but that just isn't true. Our river is very sick.
I posted my testing results for the public to see and it got a lot of attention. People learned about how much feces is in our river and now there is a $15.7 million plan to stop straight pipes! I am still testing my river, training other kids to test their waterways and continuing with science.
There are thousands of straight pipes flushing into our waterways. This makes me upset. How can adults not see how wrong this is and implement enforcement to replace them?
In the fall of 2015 I learned what a straight pipe was and I was very upset! A straight pipe is a pipe that goes directly from your toilet into the water. My river has a lot of these pipes, even though they are completely illegal! I asked my parents a lot of questions like:
Why are straight pipes allowed if they are illegal?
How polluted is our river with poop?
Is it safe to swim in our river?
Do people know there are straight pipes in the river?
All of my questions lead me to try and find answers. I decided to do my science fair project on the river and fecal contamination. My results were very bad. I felt I had to let people know. I started a Facebook page (my mom controls) and my results caused a lot of things to happen. Good things for our river! Take a look around my website. It has been an incredible journey so far.
This is a straight pipe
I was asked to be a youth voice for The Civix Student Budget Consultation.
The Student Budget Consultation provides youth with an opportunity to learn about the government’s revenues and expenditures, discuss important political issues and suggested policies, and offer their insights on the priorities of the upcoming federal budget. The opinions of students are collected through a survey and the results are shared with the Department of Finance.
I think it is important for youth to get involved and know what's happening and what decisions are being made. We have a voice too.
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