More than 100 year 5 and 6 pupils, in four groups, visited the urban creek at the Village Green as part of their "Wai Water" studies this term.
The groups were accompanied by teachers and Otago Regional Council land resources manager Susie McKeague, who had joined other notable water users and experts for a question and answer session with pupils.
Ms McKeague said the children were measuring temperature, conductivity, clarity and the pH level to determine how healthy Horne Creek was.
"The water's mostly clear, then for 15 or 20-minute intervals it's murky with stormwater incidents that looked like sediment."
Ms McKeague said the murky intervals continued throughout the day.
She rang the ORC hotline, but the water was clearing quickly and it was proving difficult to trace the source of the problem.
Earlier, Cecil Peak Station farm manager Philip Rive told pupils how water from a small unnamed mountain creek was piped using gravity to a turbine, which powered a generator and supplied the household and farm with electricity.
Mr Rive said the self-sufficient farm also used creek water for drinking and firefightingThe 12,140ha dairy, beef and sheep station was owned by absentee Hong Kong businessman Ronnie Chann, who bought the property 16 years ago for $1 million, Mr Rive said in response to questions from the audience.
Kawarau Jet director Andy Brinsley gave his perspective on tourism and water.
He asked pupils to name operators and activities which used the resource and encouraged children to wear life jackets when on the waterways.
He told them a bath contained 225 litres of water and a Kawarau Jet boat engine pushed out three times that volume every second to reach a top speed of 85kmh.
Each boat was twin-engined.
Sustainable Wanaka eco design adviser Christina Newnham encouraged saving and reusing water.
Plumber Steve Chisholm talked about his 30 years in the trade and the trials of retrieving hedgehogs from drains.
Lakes Engineering project manager Fiona Sands and engineer Gary MacPherson explained how water was reticulated to Wakatipu homes.
Jasmine Addie (10) asked if pumping water from Lake Wakatipu affected the fish but Mr MacPherson said there seemed to be enough water for both fish and people.
