On Saturday, November 2, my group (Danielle, Michele, Dan, and Nino) went to Weis to test the water quality in the little creek in front of the store. We tested the temperature, PH, dissolved oxygen, and the nitrate. We were having a little problem with the phosphorus test but other than that, everything went well.
On Friday the 15th, The Eco-Warriors went to their 3 testing locations around the Blue Marsh lake area and collected samples from 3 different locations. The tests comprised of Nitrate testing, PH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and collecting temperatures. We were amazed by the results we got in all 3 locations. The most notable difference was the difference in temperature for each location. The coldest being the first picture above. Unfortunatley we were not able to complete the phosphorus test due to the lack of materials provided in the kits.
Hello Guys!!!!!
Now it’s finally the time for us to reveal the locations we’re going to visit and collect water quality data.
The data collecting will be held on this Friday (11/22).
We’ll share the progress of the data collecting soon.
Our group met with organization, Berks Nature. We learned how to set up equipment necessary for water testing. We also practiced conducting the various water tests, such as the sulfate test. In addition, information was provided to us on where to test the water, how to contact the organization and were given a brief overview of what the organization does.
Our team is Danielle Stoudt, a freshman Film/Video major, Michele Calderon, a sophomore Security & Risk Analysis major, Nino Cambria, a sophomore Telecommunications major, and Dan Gombar, a sophomore Undecided.
We are excited to get out in the greater Reading area this fall in partnership with Berks Nature. We are gearing up to test water quality in Berks County!
Hello Everyone,
We are team Eco Warriors!
Ashley Wright (Left) – Hospitality Management Major, graduating in December 2019. George Nanouh (Middle) – Financing Major. Joren Vargas (Right) – Business Marketing/Management
We will be working on the Berks Nature project and we’re eager to get started. We have heard back from our organization, but we still need to pick a time and date for our first training.
Throughout this semester I have learned so much and gained a new appreciation for the environment and protecting it. The EACAP project my group participated in was Berks Nature. This was such a great hands on experience where I got to see my work put to use. I know that the water testing I did will lead to cleaner water for Berks county and that is really special. It is a great feeling to know I am doing my part in keeping our planet healthy.
Reflection Report
This project was an eye opener for all of us, we all enjoyed working together and learning new things. When I first started this project with Berks Nature, I thought it was going to be hard, there was a lot of steps we had to take to test the water. I never knew that all of these tests were done to make sure the water is in good shape. I actually enjoyed testing the water, it was a different type of experience for me. I never thought I would learn how to test the water and be able to document the information for the world to see. I’m glad I got to work with my group members in helping the environment.
-An’Yea
When starting this project with Berks Nature, I never imagined having such a big impact and learning experience with this service project. I learned about how to properly test waters for different nutrients and chemicals. Although I didn’t have that much interest in the recording of the measurements, I found it valuable to know these steps and how valuable it was to have the readings recorded so that other scientist can use it to better our water quality! It was a new understanding of the topic of water conservation. Specially after being raised near the ocean, I can now incorporate my experience and knowledge into making smarter decisions and trying to educate my friends and family on the subject as well. It was definitely one of a kind experience that I will carry with me forever.
-Karla
Completing this project was not like anything I’ve ever done before. Since we were able to physically get involved in the health of our community, the information that we learned was much more meaningful and impactful. I really enjoyed doing this project.
-Mackenzie
It was so great to not only present our research to our peers but also to learn about the service that they did for the community. For this presentation, we posted information that we have learned throughout the process of completing this project. We also provided multiple demonstrations for anyone who visited our table because we put the components of our water testing kit on display. It was very interesting to learn about the various topics that the other groups explored, and it was fun teaching others about what our group learned.
Our service all began at the start of the Spring 2019 semester here at Penn State Berks. When we started class we had all of these great thoughts about how we would go about helping bring change to our environment, and combat the ever growing threat against it. Although these were all great thoughts, we couldn’t begin to think about actually putting them into action. That all changed when we took Environmental Science with Dr. Kazempour. She instilled in all of us what it means to go about making change in our communities by teaching us the fundamental skills of environmental science and the tools an individual needs to go about doing it. From working together as a team to following the steps of the scientific process, we learned so much about how to effectively spread awareness to our local communities and peers. Our group, the Drip gang, had a wonderful time doing our research on groundwater pollution, and learning about the proper ways to go about testing it. We began our project by receiving water quality testing from Berks Nature in Reading PA. This organization does local water testing and has a full testing facility, so we were getting the best training possible to conduct our own tests. We learned how to test PH, Dissolved Oxygen, Phosphorous, Conductivity and Nitrate. Each of these tests came with a specific set of directions and different materials used to complete each test. We were all astonished at just how much went into testing water quality that we were not aware of before. For our own testing once we began to do our service work we decided to collect data at two important bodies of water near the city of Reading which included Blue Marsh Lake and Lake Ontelaunee. At Blue Marsh we tested the water upstream and downstream to get clear readings to see the difference in water quality just based on location in one body of water. From the data we collected we found that the water downstream was more acidic and a lot more polluted than the upstream test. We concluded that the water upstream was cleaner due to the fact that it is moving faster and it barely stays still like the water further downstream. At our second test at Lake Ontelaunee we found that the water was very stable and had a very balanced PH, and conductivity, we believe that the data collected here for our tests were cleaner because this lake is actually a registered watershed that is maintained and contains little to no pollution. All of this information was inputted into the GLOBE database which is an app that collects local water tests and readings for other organizations and some large companies to use or view. This information will be sent to NASA to show that our water requires much needed improvement and care. Collecting data was just one part of our service however. Giving our final presentation to the public inside the Gaige Lobby at Penn State Berks gave us an opportunity to share our work with others, and spread awareness on the issue. Because of our extensive research and hands on quality testing we believe that we got the message out very strongly to those who interacted with us and viewed our poster. As a combined effort with all of the other service groups, our class was able to achieve spreading awareness of the environment within our community, by showing that with thorough service and teamwork, great changes can happen!. Overall this project went very well for us as a team, we all enjoyed working together and making new friendships that enabled us to complete this project and spread awareness about issues that tend to be overlooked in our society today.