Archive for March, 2008
On Saturday, March 29th 2008, The Bronx River Alliance in conjunction with GLOBE held what I considered tot be a rather successful Water Quality Monitoring training. The Alliance worked out the logistics of invitations and materials, Rocking the Boat provided the space at Hunts Point Riverside Park and some much appreciated labor, and Peter Schmidt from Queens College, ran the show for GLOBE.
All told, 18 participants, ranging from a couple of new volunteers that have never done water quality testing, to several pros that could tell you the quantity of DO in a water sample with one hand tied behind their backs, took part in the training, but something new was learned by all. Organizations represented were Rocking the Boat ( which included VOICE members?), Green Apple Corps, Action at the Point, The Bronx Zoo, and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. Peter walked us through not only the reasons that we test water, but also the procedures necessary to making sure your data has some meaning to you and the larger scientific community. To demonstrate this, all of the participants were given thermometers and asked to go outside to “take the temperature.” As they came in, Peter collected the data on the board. The temps ranged from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to “Medium rare,” even though the Weather Underground claims it was about 48 degrees Fahrenheit at the time. The point was well made that you need to use the right tool and have a standard by which to compare your data.
For standards, we used the following for temperature and Dissolved Oxygen. A simple ice bath at sea level should give you a reading of 0 degrees Celsius. Make sure that you keep the thermometer in the water for three minutes and stir it. Water being the only substance that freezes from the top down, missing that stir will give you about a 4 degree difference. For DO, we made a saturated (100%) solution by simply filling a small bottle half way, capping it and the shaking it like mad for about five minutes. This mimics waterfalls were the O2 mixes with the H2O. When you run your titration, it should come out to about 100% saturated if all is working correctly.
The two new protocols introduced were the use of transparency tubes and hydrometers. These are GLOBE protocols that allow us to input this data onto the GLOBE database. The transparency tube is easier and faster than the turbidity test that we had been doing as Bronx River Stewards. The hydrometer is used to find specific gravity of water which is then converted into salinity when cross referenced with temperature.
Soon all Bronx River Stewards will have access to the Alliance’s GLOBE site where data can be entered and accessed by all. Peter walked everybody through that process at the close of our day, as well as demonstrating the amazing resource that the GLOBE web site ( see our links) is for scientists, teachers and students.
I’d like to thank everybody that participated and everybody that had a hand in making the training come off as well as it did. We started early, ran late ( thanks for washing dishes, Rosa and Kathryn!) a covered miles of material. Thanks Peter for making the trip and we hope to have you back soon( Bring the owls and the snakes) for more training and hopefully a canoe trip.
DG
March 30th, 2008
I met with two teachers from The Dalton School, Laura and Tracy, and a future Paleontologist, Henry, to begin planning for some future restoration and monitoring. They are partnered with a New Orleans school that is involved in restoration of their wetlands. As we toured the Bronx River Forest, they offered some great ideas on how to put long term a riparian restoration monitoring program in place that is accessable to the younger crowd, in this case, 3rd graders. The preliminary idea would be that a class works with the crew to do some planting, but then also monitors the work of previous classes. In this way, the students get to feel the satisfaction of the planting, get a view into the future of their plantings by monitoring the work of others, and participate in a scientific research that improves our environment. Thank you Laura, Tracy and Henry for your interest and your input. Hope to see you all soon.
DG
March 18th, 2008
Not exactly three things that you normally mention in one sentence. Unfortunately, that is what we saw today in a span of about 30 minutes on the river today.
As a part of the pilot bacteria monitoring study, KS and I went up to Muskrat Cove to take some samples. As KS took her samples at the pipe that leads into the river on the right bank just above Nereid avenue, I noticed that the flow from the pipe was stronger than normal and strangely foamy. I sat strangely because the foam dissipated rather quickly and the bubbles burst almost violently. I crawled out on a tree to photograph the foam more closely. Just as I turned off the camera, a muskrat came swimming right at me from up river before diving and disappearing. Despite the suffix part of their name, they are cute, otter like animals.
I didn’t have time to smile about my encounter however, because when I looked down into the flow from the pipe, I realized that suddenly a good bit of the foam was not breaking up. There was a simple, terrible explanation: It was toilet paper. It became obvious that the flow coming from the pipe which it is believed comes from McClean Ave. in Yonkers, was discharging raw sewage into the Bronx River. KS took several samples so we should have an answer beyond the visual in about a week. I have no doubt.
This pipe, an overflow for reservoir water, I believe coming from the Hillview Reservoir, is expected to have some flow even in dry weather. The illegal connections were a part of a mult-million dollar lawsuit a couple of years ago by the city of NY . Yonkers has since eliminated 50 or 60 illegal connections to this pipe, but apparently some remain. Some time ago, the city of Yonkers contracted Malcom Pirnie, inc, for consultation in the matter in an effort to complete the remediation. Just what work they have done is yet to be seen. Judging by what was flowing from that pipe, remediation still needs to be done. Video and pictures soon to follow.
Act II Scene I At 174th St., we were not greeted by homeless people or geese. Instead we found 3 NYPD frogmen preparing for a dive in the Bronx River. They were “ Looking for stuff,” as a part of an “ongoing investigation.” Sorry, but I didn’t ask anymore questions. The ideas popped just into my head.
March 17th, 2008
While out on an unrelated trip, we bumped into a class from Banana Kelly at Burke Bridge getting into their first water quality monitoring of the Spring. The students were hard at work, searching their memories for the protocols that they hadn’t followed in several months. Their teachers were not handing over any easy answers, opting instead to get the students to use their own knowledge and reason to aid in recall. Nice to see them out there doing the hard work that helps with the Bronx River Restoration.
DG
March 12th, 2008
The GAC crew hit the shore of the Bronx River today for their first venture into water quality monitoring this afternoon. 9 crew members and their leader, KF, learned the basics of testing, including pH, DO, transparency, velocity and more. At least 4 members were not cowed by the 7.5 degree Celsius water, and they climbed right in for sampling. The crew was quite energetic and their interest in the work made the time go by much too quickly. I hope we get to see them out on the river again in the near future.
March 11th, 2008
2/29/08
- A group of students From the Bronx Green Middle School took part in a data collecting exercise in The Bronx River Forest today, aided by our Conservation Crew. The students could be seen all along the banks of the river making simple maps, finding their GPS coordinates, estimating the heights of trees and conducting some water quality testing. Our incredible Conservation Crew let the kids discover some of their own methods for estimating sizes and collecting other forms of data, but also shared their own methods while teaching them about water transparency and testing for pH. Of course, these students brought a tremendous amount of knowledge with them so we learned somethings as well.
- We were lucky enough to see a dozen Mallards and the crew also identified the more rare Hooded Merganser pair doing quite a bit of diving in the river. As one student said, “Hey, look; the girl duck has a Mohawk!” With its diet of small fish and aquatic invertebrates, there must be more life in that cold river than we could easily see.
- Thank you toBronx Green Middle School for giving us the opportunity to work with your students.
March 1st, 2008
