Laboratory Experiment pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Water Quality Monitoring of an Urban Estuary and a Coastal Aquifer Using Field Kits and Meters: A Community-Based Environmental Research Project Hun Bok Jung,* Felix Zamora, and Nurdan S. Duzgoren-Aydin Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Jersey City University, 2039 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, New Jersey 07305, United States S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: Water quality is an important interdisciplinary environmental topic for project-based learning. An undergraduate summer research internship program at a public minority serving institution engaged environmental science majors in community-based research experiences. The research focused on the field monitoring of water quality for surface water and groundwater in urban areas of New York and New Jersey that have been heavily impacted by industrialization and urbanization. Groups of students collected water samples from the tidal section of the Passaic River and the Hackensack River, as well as the Newark Bay in New Jersey. Groundwater samples were also collected from a sandy coastal aquifer located in the East Shore of Staten Island, New York. Students analyzed water samples using a portable pH-EC meter, a portable colorimeter, or field test kits for various water quality parameters in the field or laboratory. Students prepared and presented research posters in conferences and at a local community event. The water quality monitoring project helped students to develop field and laboratory research skills, quantitative skills, collaboration skills, as well as written and oral communication skills. The research experiences enhanced students’ attitudes toward science careers and motivated students to pursue degrees in science. The community-based environmental project can be implemented in various undergraduate science courses focusing on the chemistry of natural waters to facilitate inquiry-driven learning and connect classroom learning to the real world. KEYWORDS: Water/Water Chemistry, Undergraduate Research, pH, Geochemistry, Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning, Environmental Chemistry, Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary, First-Year Undergraduate/General, Laboratory Instruction
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INTRODUCTION The health of the nation’s water resources is an issue of interest to all citizens, and analysis of natural water samples introduces students to a wide variety of scientific skills and techniques.1 Environmental Science and Earth Science majors at New Jersey City University (NJCU), New Jersey’s only four-year public Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), conducted a water quality monitoring project during the summer of 2015 with support of the NSF funded GS-LSAMP (Garden State−Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) program, which aims at providing underrepresented minority students with research opportunities and resources. Undergraduate research opportunities need to be employed to keep minority students engaged in science classes, and to attract and retain science majors.2 Water quality of surface water or groundwater can be a good undergraduate research topic for an introductory environmental science course or an upper level course such as environmental chemistry3 because water has been an important interdisciplinary environmental research topic for project-based learning.4−6 Environmental pollution of local rivers and groundwater is also an interesting topic to NJCU © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
students because most students attending NJCU are from local urban communities that have been historically impacted by various anthropogenic activities. The Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, as well as the Newark Bay, are a part of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, which is one of the largest urban estuaries in the United States and has suffered extensive losses in wetland habitat and aquatic vegetation communities due to industrialization and urbanization during the 19th and 20th centuries.7 While the overall health of the estuary has improved because of the enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act as well as the decline of industry along the estuary, it is still impaired by substantial degradation of water quality and persistent toxic contaminants in sediments.8−10 Today, combined sewer overflows (CSOs) represent a major continuing source of untreated waste discharge to the urban waterbody.9,11 Along the East Shore of Staten Island, New York, groundwater is presumed to discharge to the Lower New Received: May 15, 2017 Revised: August 31, 2017
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00334 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Laboratory Experiment
Table 1. Spatial Distribution of Water Quality Data for Surface Water Samples Collected along the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers and in Newark Bay, Using Field Test Kits and Meters Sample IDa
Latitude
Longitude
T, °C
pH
EC, mS/cm
DO, mg/L
Nitrate, mg/L
Ammonia, mg/L
Phosphate, mg/L
Chloride, mg/L
PR-1 PR-2 PR-3 PR-4 PR-5 PR-6 PR-7 PR-8 PR-9 HR-1 HR-2 HR-3 HR-4 HR-5 HR-6 HR-7 HR-8 NB-1 NB-2 NB-3
40.7342 40.7462 40.7640 40.7839 40.7935 40.8017 40.8134 40.8303 40.8565 40.7273 40.7625 40.7909 40.8065 40.8572 40.8766 40.8853 40.9067 40.6789 40.6624 40.6543
74.1453 74.1652 74.1588 74.1478 74.1412 74.1381 74.1377 74.1205 74.1067 74.0963 74.0881 74.0753 74.0436 74.0319 74.0361 74.0347 74.0257 74.1167 74.1323 74.1398
24.2 23.6 22.3 23.5 24.5 25.1 24.1 25.5 24.9 25.6 28.2 33.4 30.5 27.4 31.3 28.7 30.6 25.2 28.4 28.8
7.93 7.98 7.95 7.85 7.86 7.83 7.89 7.88 7.89 7.67 7.72 7.74 8.05 8.08 7.98 7.88 7.85 7.31 7.45 7.64
1.54 0.73 0.75 0.68 0.67 0.66 0.59 0.60 0.59 23.30 14.78 16.00 8.77 3.69 2.34 2.14 1.21 28.30 29.50 30.50
7 7 7 7 7 7 8 6 8 5 6 5 10 8 4 5 7 6 8 10
3.5 4.4 5.8 4.4 4.4 6.2 3.5 4.4 4.4 2.7 3.1
