Troubled Waters

A Sample

ABOUT COOPER RIVER

The Cooper River, which flows into the Delaware River, was one of the most contaminated rivers in South Jersey due to 14 sewer treatment and manufacturing plants.  The water quality is much healthier today, but river sediments still contain contaminants.  The river is about to be dredged—stirring up that sediment—to expand colligate and high school boat races.

Students and faculty from Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges meet up with the Urban Promise Academy Stream Stewards at the Cooper River Boathouse.  Together, they document water monitoring activities in collaboration with teacher Jim Cummings and Landscape Architect John Nystedt.

Explore some possible sources of oil in the river and trace connections to regional and global industries, as well as the social, environmental, and political implications.

There are two ways to navigate the map: 1. follow our narrative by clicking through the way points (table of contents box on the right) or 2. explore points on your own. Navigate around the map and use the bold-faced text within the waypoints to direct your exploration.

Team Flame Retardants here: it has been a very exciting semester trying to find polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediment and water samples. We tried 3 different extraction methods: microwave accelerated reaction system (top), liquid-liquid extraction (second, with Clayton Bloszies in action), and sonication (third). After analyzing several different sediment samples and one water sample but finding no PBDEs, we decided to (ummm…) see if we could extract flame retardants from various couches on Haverford's campus (bottom, dorm couch post-sampling). The results: PBDEs potentially found!!! So even though Team Flame Retardants did not find any flame retardants (or abandoned couches) in the Delaware River for this study, we did determine that it is possible to detect PBDEs using GCMS if they are present in large enough quantities.

PharmaSolutions: Behind the Commercial