Lu Boren’s seventh-grade science students at St. Columba School are getting their feet wet when it comes to water quality.

Every month they get out the waders to test the water flowing in the Animas River through a Colorado Division of Wildlife program called River Watch.

DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said the program, which began in 1989, enlists help from schools, organizations and some local governments to gather samples and conduct tests on 300 rivers and streams throughout the state.

About 4,000 samples are collected every year and tested for aspects such as acidity, temperature and mineral content.

Boren said involving students in the process helps push learning beyond the classroom and into the real world.

“This is a way that I saw to make the chemistry that we study more relevant,” Boren said. “The numbers we gather ... are used to actually make water health law.”