Debra Baker knows the ins and outs of aquatic systems in
this area of the country. Baker, assistant director for the Central
Plains Center for BioAssessment, said the Center is currently working
on in-depth projects that ultimately aim to uphold the Environmental
Protection Agency's regulations on specific nutrients in water. She has
worked for the center since 1999, and is often involved in
complicated research. But for the last two weeks in January, Baker will
take some of her very basic water knowledge and use it to educate the
people of Pignon, Haiti, on the issue of clean water.
"I guess my experience with working on water quality issues here
has given me the ability to talk to other people about this," Baker
said.
In
May, Baker met Kristie Mompermier, a missionary in Haiti who she will be working with on the water quality projects. Mompermier is a missionary through United Christians International, and is a registered nurse. She has lived in Haiti since 1996.
The program the two will work on is called World Water Monitoring Day. It is an international education
and outreach program that emphasizes public awareness about protecting
water resources around the world. It encourages local citizens to get
involved in the water monitoring process. Baker will help adult and
children groups from Pignon test and manage the town's water supply.
The
EPA provides the water monitoring kits that Baker will take with her to
Haiti. These kits will allow non-scientists the opportunity to check
out basic aspects of water quality, such as pH balance and dissolved
oxygen levels, and potentially avoid future water-born diseases or
community problems.
Mompremier has high hopes for this education program.
"In Haiti, people want to learn more," Mompremier said. "Education is
valued very much. People love the opportunity to learn more and to
imporove their lives.They just need to opportunity to come to a seminar like this."
While clean water is important to poorer
communities of the world, Baker said she's not expecting anything to
change drastically from this workshop.
"I'm not expecting for
them to be able to improve what they're doing based on this, but just
to be aware that there are methods for monitoring their water," Baker
said. "And then if there are concerns in the future, they'll know how
to handle it."
Back in the U.S., Baker is working on much more complicated issues, and monitoring different nutrients.
For
the
first time, Baker and others in her department are working on a new
project with the Missouri River. Since the passage of the Clean Water
Act of 1972, the EPA has set limitations on mercury, lead and other
dangerous toxins in bodies of water. In 1998, the EPA founded the
Center for BioAssessment to help set nutrient limits of nitrogen and
phosphorous in lakes and streams. But more recently, the EPA has set
limits on levels of acceptable nitrogen and phosphorous in all major
water
bodies, including rivers and wetland areas. Nitrogen and phosphorous
can spark odor and taste complaints in drinking water. The funding for
this research on the Missouri River started this year, and Baker's work
with the project began in August. This is the first time the Center for
BioAssessment has worked on setting such limits for such a big water
body that winds through multiple states.
Elizabeth Smith, Environmental Scientist for the Kansas Department
of Health and Environment, attended a water nutrient workshop in Denver
at the and of November, where nutrients in the Missouri River were a
big topic of conversation. Scientists of EPA Region 7, which includes
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, gathered in Denver to exchange
information and ideas about nutrients. The Missouri River flows through
or on the border of all states in Region 7, and agricultural practices
from these states have an affect the River.
Jason Koontz, first semester graduate student in Environmental
Science, is
the database manager for water quality data, and works mostly with data
accumulated from the Missouri River project. Koontz organizes and
formats data submitted on nutrient levels that will eventually be used
in setting regulations and limits on nutrients. Koontz said the data
looks to life in the water to see the effects of nitrogen and
phosphorous has there. Baker said these nutrients in the water can
cause algae to gather on the water's surface, blocking sunlight from
the water. Some algae can even release a toxin, endangering fish and
plant life.
"We want to see if there's a biological response, to see if setting regulations is warranted," Koontz said.
Ed
Carney, Environmental Scientist for the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment, is one of the people who will use the finalized data from
these projects to come up with solid numeric limitations on nitrogen
and phosphorous.
"The numbers we generate will in the best of
all possible worlds mean safer lakes in this region and the best water
quality that you could hope for," Carney said.
But not all
water is created equal in the Missouri River. Different segments along
the River will have different limitations for nutrients set depending
on the water's potential use. For example, limitations on water used
for a drinking water supply will be stricter than limitations on water
that will go toward irrigating farmland.
Carney said that especially in this part of the country, rates of nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients could be high.
"We
disproportionately deal with nutrients that come from agricultural
practices," Carney said. "That's the nature of this portion of
the country."
The goal of setting new nutrient limitations on
the Missouri River will affect other parts of the country. Koontz said
that much of what this project is trying to prevent is negative
downstream affects in the rest of the country. The Missouri River
empties into the Mississippi River north of St. Louis in Missouri,
where it eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Cleaner
water in Kansas can help prevent oxygen depletion, fish kills and algae
blooms in the Gulf.
Source: images.encarta.msn.com
Koontz said he has thought about using his knowledge of water systems to help
other communities around the world, as Baker is doing.
"I've thought of using my knowledge to help third world communities build
water treatment facilities," Koontz said. "That's always a possibility."
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