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  Trinity
Trudy lives in the Trinity River. But she can only live there if
the water is clean.
You see, Trudy is a young dragonfly. Bugs like Trudy
are called pollution-sensitive
bugs. This means that they can't stand dirty water. When the water
is dirty, Trudy and her friends can't breath and there's nothing
for them to eat.
Some of the other bugs that can't live in dirty water
are the young mayfly, the water penny, and the whirligig.
There are some creatures that can live in any kind
of water, clean or dirty. These are called pollution-tolerant
creatures. Some of these creatures are the leech, the midge, and
the black fly.
To find out whether water is clean or dirty, scientists
go to rivers, lakes and creeks and see what kinds of creatures are
living there. This is called bioassessment.
What does it mean if a scientist sees all kinds of
creatures, including dragonflies? It means the water is pretty good.
What does it mean if a scientist sees only leeches
and midges? The water is pretty dirty.
Here's the deal: The Trinity River and other rivers,
creeks and lakes in Dallas are getting dirtier and dirtier. If this
keeps up, pretty soon Trudy won't have any place to live.
But we can help Trudy keep her home. Believe it or
not, there are a lot of things we do every day that affect the quality
of the water. If you learn the right way to do these things, you
can keep the water from getting dirty. If you do things the wrong
way, you can say goodbye to Trudy.
So go back to
Trinity Trudy's Storm Water World
and learn all about storm water and what you can do to keep it clean.
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