Researchers with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society are visiting northern schools this week to gather water and fish samples.

The Northern School Water Monitoring Project is sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment and will visit Beauval, La Loche, Ile a la Crosse and Buffalo Narrows.

Megan Van Buskirk is part of the project and says it will include examining fish from local waterways.

“The students are going to learn how to dissect the fish as well as we are extracting the gall bladder and within the gallbladder there is bile that is going to be sent back to the toxicology lab here in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan are they are going to test it for hydrocarbons”.

Van Buskirk says previous testing has not turned up enough toxins or chemicals in water to cause concern.

“But of course we also have to keep in mind that we are hearing from that live in these communities that the water is not the best to drink anymore the way it was when they were younger and so we want to figure out why the scientific data that we’re collecting doesn’t correlate with what the people in the communities are telling us”.

Buskirk says it is hoped the project will continue again next school year.