More than 100 Bay of Plenty primary and intermediate students got schooled on water and how it's managed at the ‘Hands On Water Expo' this week.

Ten schools took part in a range of activities at Redwood Valley Farm Park, near Paengaroa, to learn about water quality monitoring, catchment protection and pollution prevention.

Students from Whakatāne's Woodlands School having fun fishing in Didymo (Didymosphenia geminata). Photos: Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The students also had an opportunity to examine bugs in streams to assess the health of the water, checking out eels and conducting experiments.

It was the third expo organised by Bay of Plenty Regional Council in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, plus Tauranga City, Rotorua Lakes and Western Bay of Plenty District councils.

BOPRC community engagement advisor Stephanie Macdonald says it was a terrific opportunity for students to apply their learning and see how they can protect the region's waterways.

'We hope they're able to take away some of the ideas they've learned and use them at home and with their schools to improve water quality throughout the region,” she says.

'It was also an opportunity for teachers to gain new knowledge about water quality which they could then take back to their schools.”

The participating schools included Gate Pa, Greenpark, Te Ranga, Ōmanu, Pongakawa, Omaramutu, Woodlands, St Josephs in Whakatāne, Malfroy and St Mary's in Rotorua.

Staff from the various organisations ran different activities, teaching the students practical skills to look after waterways that they can then use in the community.

Several schools are now planning to share what they've learnt with their students and wider communities.

Their plans include riparian planting, rain water collection to water vegetable gardens and even an eel identification workshop to help protect Long Fin Eels.

'This event wouldn't be possible without the great support we receive from the other councils and the Department of Conservation, who host activities across a broad range of freshwater issues,” says Stephanie.

The Enviroschools Programme has also provided funding support through their Regional Capacity Building Fund to make the event possible.

Members of the Freshwater Futures Community groups for the Kaituna- Maketū, Pongakawa- Waitahanui and Rangitāiki Water Management Areas were also invited to visit. These groups are providing their views to help council to set limits and rules around freshwater.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council scientist Alastair Surenworks with children from Malfroy school, Rotorua, as he teaches them how to identify Freshwater Invertebrates.