{"id":14475,"date":"2012-07-05T15:24:09","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T20:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=14475"},"modified":"2012-07-05T15:24:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T20:24:15","slug":"the-kids-are-all-right-the-lower-colorado-is-low-on-oxygen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/07\/05\/the-kids-are-all-right-the-lower-colorado-is-low-on-oxygen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kids Are All Right: The Lower Colorado Is Low on Oxygen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Terrence Henry\/StateImpact Texas<\/p>

The Lower Colorado river is suffering from low oxygen levels. Is the drought to blame?<\/p><\/div>\n

Some high school ecological enthusiasts have collected new data showing the Lower Colorado river ecosystem might be in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

The river not only supplies much of Texas with its drinking water, it\u2019s also a cherished destination for summer recreation. But all is not well on the Colorado, and authorities might not have known about the scope of the river’s troubles without the students’ research.<\/p>\n

For about 20 years, the Austin Youth River Watch<\/a>, an environmental education program, has organized groups of teens to monitor the water quality of the Colorado. Every week they check water at different parts of the river and its tributaries. And lately they\u2019ve been getting some unusual readings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been picking up low levels of oxygen over the past few weeks and we\u2019re pretty concerned,” says Brent Lyles,\u00a0Executive Director of River Watch. He says the group is working with the City of Austin and the Lower Colorado River Authority to figure out why oxygen levels might be dropping. “If not for our students\u2019 work, I\u2019m not sure anyone would know this is happening,” he says.<\/p>\n

Less oxygen could spell trouble for fish and other wildlife. And the group has already observed a large number of dead Asian clams in the river, a troubling sign of what happens when oxygen levels get low.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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