9 December 2018
It is no secret that Pennsylvania has had a pretty wet summer. The overflow of rivers and streams are seen heavily in the Reading area; the Schuylkill river being one of them. But what does all this rain mean for the conditions of the rivers? Pennsylvania State University Students Brooke Eveland, Kellen Redcay, and CJ Carty made there way up stream to see if they could find out more about the Schuylkill river.
The three have come together, from different educational backgrounds, to find different point and nonpoint sources of contaminants along the Schuylkill river. Just like the overflow in the rivers this summer these 3 students have become overflowing with knowledge on the topic of water pollution.
To aid in the educational aspect of the project, the Kittany Sierra club took the time to help the students organize the project, provide information on how to go about testing and also answer any questions along the way. The team worked with the Berks County Schuylkill branch team members Darree and Jonathan. The club has over 900 volunteers to help in aiding local environmental concerns. The Clean Stream Team worked alongside the Sierra club to help with there ongoing investigation of what lies upstream.
“The quest to find point source solutions was not an easy one”, mentioned Carty, a Junior at Penn State Berks. The team, who call themselves the Clean Stream Team, located point and nonpoint solutions along the schuylkill river from Reading, PA all the way up to Pottsville, PA. Many of these points included electrical plants, wastewater treatment plants, steel and aluminum manufacturing plants, iron casting facilities, bio-medication facilities, and farms.
The team’s main goal was to find possible pollutants that could have been in the water based on all of these point sources. Although, it was not possible to test all potential contaminants due to the expense of high quality and specialized testing kits, it was still valuable research to know before setting out to test the water. Eveland informed us, “Without knowing different possible contaminants, being able to test for them or not, is important so that we could understand if the nitrate levels were high/low or the PH was off due to these point sources.”
After being trained on how to use water testing kits the team set out on a cold rainy day to test the river. The team drove to Laureldale, an area closer to Reading. Upon arrival, the team observed the river and wrote down some of the physical descriptors in order to get an overall idea of what the quality of the water might be. Accompanied by Penn State Berks professor, Dr. Jayne’ Park-Martinez, the team was then able to test the oxygen, phosphate, PH, and nitrate levels of the water. They also were able to use a probe to test the water’s conductivity. Although the team was unable to test more locations along the Schuylkill river, they were able to gain insight on how to use the testing equipment and what factors to look for in a body of water.
The Clean Stream Team is incredibly grateful to have had this unique opportunity. As this experiment did not necessarily pertain to their majors or future careers, they came to the realization that it does pertain to their lifestyle. “The Kittatinny Sierra Club showed us the film “What Lies Upstream” and it gave me a new perspective on our environment and the kind of toxins we might be putting into our bodies” stated Redcay, a Senior. Part of the project entailed watching the film “What Lies Upstream” as well as organizing a panel discussion that was open to the public. The film is a documentary that not only speaks about the importance of making sure drinking water is clean, but it also showed corruption within companies and how sometimes, the public is not always receiving valid information about what they are truly consuming. After watching the film, the team had the opportunity to present their project to the public, and then later to the campus during a poster presentation.
Feeling inspired, the team then moved on to their research paper which delved deeper into the topic of water pollution, its effects on humans and several simple solutions that everyone can do to ensure clean drinking water. The team discovered that their are billions of deaths annually due to unsafe or contaminated drinking water. There are also various fatal illnesses that humans can contract if they are consuming contaminated water or even bathing in it. Fortunately, everyone can do their part and do their best to reduce the amount of waste that is produced and utilize more natural alternatives when it comes to household products.
Even though the team completed their work for the semester, this is not the end of this project. The team will be passing down their information to following semesters so that more locations can be tested along the river and more information can be gained. “This task was not an easy one, but it was definitely rewarding.” mentioned Eveland ,”our team went from being a group of strangers to a group of friends. We had the opportunity to make so many connections with people we would not typically interact with.” The team then went on to say that their main message to everyone is to never stop questioning or researching what is taking place in their environment because no matter what your future aspirations are, everyone can be a citizen scientist.Together, we can create an environment with less pollution and more clean drinking water.