District surplus lab equipment gets new life educating students at Silver River Museum lab

Vanguard High School chemistry teacher Euan Hunter gets a helping hand moving surplus equipment the District is donating to the Silver River Museum lab.

PALATKA, Fla., Jan. 27, 2021 — St. Johns River Water Management District surplus lab equipment is getting a second life in the Silver River Museum lab, which is being created to offer Marion County middle and high school students an opportunity to learn about water chemistry in the Silver River.

“While the surplus items are outdated for the advanced laboratory work of the District, they still have years of use in a teaching environment,” said St. Johns River Water Management District Executive Director Dr. Ann Shortelle. “With this equipment, Marion County students can learn how to operate high-quality instruments, generate data to discover more about the Silver River and grow into citizens committed to water protection and conservation.”

Vanguard High School chemistry teacher Euan Hunter is working to create a chemistry lab at Silver River Museum, which is operated by the Marion County Public Schools. As a recipient of the District’s Blue School Grant, Hunter has taken his students on field trips for the past three years to collect soil and water samples at Silver River, giving them the opportunity to learn chemistry in a hands-on setting.

Obsolete items surplused by the District include a block digester, vacuum pump, alkalinity and conductivity system, lab glass washers, ion chromatograph, automated samplers, chemical analyzer and more. The District routinely disposes of items that are obsolete, serve no useful function, are uneconomical or inefficient for continued use, or have exceeded their useful service life.

To learn more about surplus items that may benefit local governments, schools and other entities, visit the District online at www.sjrwmd.com/finance.