Timmins students take a walk down the 'Yellow Fish Road'

If you see yellow fish looking like they're out of water in the Timmins area, well, they are.

The Mattagami Region Conservation Authority is working with Grade 4 and 5 students at St. Joseph Catholic School to help educate the community about the Yellow Fish Road program.

“A lot of people don’t realize that the water that rolls off the streets into the storm drain goes untreated directly into our lakes and rivers," said Crystal Percival, drinking water source protection lead/planner for the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority.

"So we want to raise awareness (that) pollution does happen and then educate people on ways to prevent pollution,"

While children stencilled the fish, Percival said they learned about some of the worst pollutants: oil, gas, dog feces, soaps, lawn fertilizers and pesticides.

They also delivered leaflets to homes with the message that only rainwater should be going down the storm sewer drains.

“This is an excellent way to get to know how the water treatment is actually done in the city and it’s better than a teacher going on about it," said Shannon Kleinhuis, teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School.

"It’s hands-on and it’s just an amazing program."

Members of the group Friends of the Porcupine River Watershed said the health of Porcupine Lake, for example, depends on everyone working together to help it heal.

"It’s improved because the pumping station is working now and even in the bypass, there’s less going into the lake, which is an improvement," said Brenda Torresan, president of the Friends of the Porcupine River Watershed.

"The environmental groups at all of the local mines have taken notice of everything in the last five to seven years and have improved their environmental processes 100 per cent."

Torresan said the most recent results of the contamination levels in Porcupine Lake's Fish are now posted on the organization's website.