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Lafayette students are teaming up with the Northampton County Conservation District and Bushkill Stream Conservancy Cooperative Project to evaluate the Bushkill Creek Watershed and look for potential sources of pollution.
The assessment is a class project this semester for students in the Environmental Site Assessment course taught by Arthur Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. Also working closely with the team is Kate Brandes, Northampton County Conservation District watershed manager.
“The students will perform project work that will have a direct benefit to the local community by assisting the Bushkill Stream Conservancy, a non-profit organization, with its water quality improvement goals,” explains Kney. “The project is a type of environmental assessment where students will evaluate the potential areas of pollution in the Bushkill Creek watershed, such as deteriorated stream banks, improper storm water controls, erosion, and other potential sources of pollution. Ultimately, this work will allow the Bushkill Stream Conservancy to pursue grant funding to address problems identified by students. This hands-on project will serve to benefit not only the local community within the Bushkill Creek Watershed, but also downstream communities that depend on a sustainable source of clean water.”
Kney divided his class into several small groups and assigned each one a section of the watershed. The students will conduct a visual inspection and evaluation of all publicly accessible portions of the creek and its tributaries within their assigned sections.
For each location where students identify potential sources of pollution, they will complete a field form documenting the type of pollution and provide a photograph of the area along with a map of the watershed where the pollution was found. Students will then submit a database identifying all polluted areas, an assessment of what needs to be done to correct problem areas, suggestions on how to address the pollution, and maps identifying all polluted areas.
Kney and Brandes will review the students’ work, and the team will submit an update this spring to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as an addendum to the existing Bushkill Stream Conservancy’s watershed plan. The addendum will help the conservancy qualify for state grant money to address the pollution problems found by the students.
Lafayette’s close ties with the Bushkill Stream Conservancy facilitated the collaboration among the conservation groups and Kney’s students. Kney; David Brandes, associate professor and acting head of civil and environmental engineering; and Diane Elliott ’74, visiting instructor of government and law, serve on the conservancy’s board of directors.
“The Bushkill Stream Conservancy is a non-profit, all volunteer organization with limited resources,” says Kate Brandes. “Without the interest and involvement of Professor Kney and his students in this project, [it] would not happen. Completion of the project is extremely important to the stream conservancy in terms of being able to get grant funding to improve the water quality in the Bushkill Creek Watershed.”
Kney believes the project allows students to apply classroom knowledge in the field while completing work that will directly benefit the surrounding community.
“I, and I believe my class, find that working on ‘real-life’ projects that help our community as well as help to improve our quality of life is very rewarding,” he says. “Taking a class beyond the physical boundaries of the Lafayette College campus also helps to bring added interest to a particular subject. Students are generally very motivated to get involved with projects such as this one.”
The student team consists of civil engineering majors Alfred Bronakowski ’08 (Shenandoah, Pa.), Lindsay Brough ’08 (Durham, Maine), Michael Eisen ’07 (Montville, N.J.), Samira Fowler ’07 (Dingmans Ferry, Pa.), Jessica Haase ’07(Glen Rock, N.J.), Nicholas Keppel ’08 (Coplay, Pa.), Katherine Merriam ’08 (Hillsborough, N.J.), Christine Moore ’08(Fredericksburg, Va.), Jennifer Namias ’08 (Boxborough, Mass.), Michelle Oswald ’07 (Timonium, Md.), Debra Perrone ’08(Fair Lawn, N.J.), Sean Stanton ’07 (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), Thomas Voltz ’09 (Melville, N.J.), and Daniel Weaver ’07(Cogan Station, Pa.); and mechanical engineering major Christian Malesky ’08 (Pittsburgh, Pa.).
In a related project, students are working under the guidance of John Wilson, laboratory coordinator of geology and environmental geosciences, with the Northampton County Conservation District and Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association. They are mapping watersheds and conducting spatial database analysis using geographic information system software. Their work will contribute to a watershed conservation plan for watersheds in northeastern Northampton County, which is expected to be complete this spring. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are funding the plan.