Success Stories:
Sewer Rats Reducing
Polluted Runoff
By Susan Smith
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Glinodo Earth
Force Youth Team |
Glinodo
Earth Force
6270 East Lake Road
Erie, PA 16511
glinodo@earthforce.org
They
call themselves "sewer rats" with pride and
named their project S.E.W.E.R. (Save Erie’s Water &
Environmental Resources). The Glinodo Earth Force youth
team at Walnut Creek Middle School learned through an
environmental survey of their community about problems
of non-point source pollution from urban runoff. In other
words, the students decided to focus their Earth Force
project on polluted runoff from streets and parking lots
in Millcreek Township. They researched everything they
could about urban runoff and its environmental impacts.
They even designed and conducted a research project to
collect pollutants found in runoff, which meant sticking
their hands and even their noses down into catch basins
and removing sludge to be analyzed. In this way they
would get some idea of the environmental impact of urban
runoff in the region and in particular on Lake Erie and
Presque Isle Bay. "Attempting to determine what is
in the watershed and moving into the bay is critical to
the future of the bay", reported Rick Diz, a Gannon
University professor and chairman of the Presque Isle
Bay Advisory Committee, adding that the students’ research
could prove invaluable. "What they are doing is at
least a beginning and absolutely can raise public awareness."
Everything the Earth Force
students read said "it was a really big problem,
but not many people realize it and do much about it,"
said Kevin Henglebrok, the youngest member of the team.
There have been challenges in trying to help solve this
problem. The students came up with the idea of planting
a buffer zone of plants at the Millcreek Mall’s parking
lot and Walnut Creek, which runs adjacent to the mall.
They believed the buffer zone would slow the runoff from
the mall parking lot and catch pollutants before they
entered the stream.
However, they soon learned
that in the newer area of the mall the developer had installed
retention basins to catch and filter runoff. In the older
section, however, catch basins gathered and directed the
water flow into the stream at a single point, and the
volume of water during storms would probably wash away
any plantings. The students realized a buffer zone clearly
would have little impact.
Carrying their frustrations
to the Millcreek Township engineering department, the
students learned it was possible to install filters in
catch basins to trap pollutants. The students discovered
that if they could trap pollutants in the filters, they
could collect the material and have it analyzed to learn
exactly what was being carried into area waterways from
parking lots and streets.
It was the very question
the Presque Isle Bay Advisory Committee had long asked,
said Rick Diz. The students’ interest was further intensified
when they learned from a teacher at the Erie County Technical
School that many cars leaked a surprising amount of contaminants,
including motor oil and transmission fluid, both of which
are hazardous to the environment. "To learn that
cars are leaking so much stuff that is just going into
our water source was astounding to me," said Sean
Fedorko, member of the SEWER Rats.
The Earth Force students
received permission from the township to install filters,
which they did with the help of volunteers from the Pennsylvania
Steelhead Association and funding from PA Sea Grant. Filters
were placed in catch basins at the Millcreek Township
School District bus garage lot, parking lots at McDowell
High School, Intermediate School, and Walnut Creek schools,
as well as at the Millcreek Township building.
With the filters installed,
the S.E.W.E.R. rats intensified their efforts to learn
all they could about parking lot and street runoff, and
what, if anything, could be done to reduce the amount
of pollutants flowing from them.
During a meeting with Kelly
Burch, chief of the Office of the Great Lakes, Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, provided them
with research information and reports he had. Buried deep
in the voluminous amount of material they obtained from
Burch, they found a few paragraphs referencing a l972
study on the benefits of street sweeping. The study suggested
that regular street sweeping can remove 25 to 50 percent
or more of common street pollutants.
"That really surprised
everyone," Henglebrok said. Pollutants become attached
to the dust and grit on the streets; however, sweeping
it up gathers up the pollutants. Street sweeping clearly
seemed to be a way to reduce the amount of pollution washing
into the waterways from streets and parking lots.
With more inquiries the
students learned that Erie attempts to sweep every street
in the city once a week. However, in Millcreek Township,
the group’s project site, and many other highly developed
suburban townships, street sweeping is done only once
or twice a year. "We were startled by the difference,"
Fedorko said.
After three weeks, the students
removed the five filters and gathered the gook and gunk
collected in them. "It was amazing how much stuff
collected in just a couple of weeks. It was thick sludge
you could hold in your hands," Fedorko reported.
Microbac Laboratories, a local lab, agreed to analyze
the sludge for the students free of charge. Lead, cadmium,
and other metals, solvents, oils, and greases were all
found in the samples. "We know some of what the filters
picked up, and we know it came in just three weeks during
spring rains, but what that means for the watershed we
don’t know," said Judy Jobes, Earth Force educator
and science teacher.
While most Earth Force projects
at Walnut Creek are structured for a single school year,
the Earth Force S.E.W.E.R. team’s urban runoff study is
expected to continue. On the agenda is a controlled experiment
using catch basin filters to see the difference regular
street sweeping can make in the Erie area. Also, students
want to develop a brochure raising awareness of the problem
from parking lot and street runoff, and what steps can
be taken to help correct it, including fixing any fluid
leaks in vehicles.
The Earth Force S.E.W.E.R.
team students have gained a lot of attention with their
work. "They are amazing," said Burch.
Future plans are to: determine
what test data means from Microbac Labs; study what effect
street sweeping has on pollution levels in the Erie area;
complete, publish and distribute an educational pamphlet
to encourage local residents to reduce toxic leaks of
oil, gas, and antifreeze by changing their vehicle maintenance
practices; and gather information about street sweeping
from local municipalities and work with Millcreek Township
to change their minimal street sweeping practice to a
level that would improve water quality.
Glinodo
Earth Force
6270 East Lake Road
Erie, PA 16511
glinodo@earthforce.org
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