Student Accomplishments

As part of the Data to Action project, students mobilize their communities to address issues related to private well water safety through community meetings, forums and events. Here are some examples of what our students have accomplished:

Public Hearings

Westbrook High School and Mount Desert Island Elementary School students testified on February 12th in favor of LD1891 to provide free filter systems for low-income families – this bill passed and was signed/enacted on April 25th, 2022. Read an article about the students’ efforts here. While the original bill granted $500,000 for these efforts, following testimony from students, the fiscal note was amended to a total of $1,000,000. The final legislation only provided $400,000, but this was a great start and showed that public participation makes a difference. All About Arsenic project participants can be seen giving testimony throughout this video, starting at 42:33.

Community Outreach

Conners Emerson School, MDI Biological Laboratory, and College of the Atlantic partnered with the Town of Bar Harbor to increase the number of wells tested in the community. The testing happened between Oct 18th and Nov 1st, 2021, and again in 2022. Check out an article on these efforts here!

Mt. Desert Elementary School, Spring 2021 four students provide testimony in favor of LD1570, An Act to Project Drinking Water for Maine Residents.

Waterville Senior High School, Spring 2019

Produced by the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab at Mid-Maine Technical Center

Tremont Consolidated School, Spring 2019

Produced by Tremont Consolidated students, May 2019

Aya Kumagai, Winter 2019

Produced by Aya Kumagai, College of the Atlantic student project

In the News

May 23, 2019: BHCS students present arsenic findings