UP Stormwater Research

Research blogs

A Trip to the Field

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Here are a couple of photos of sampling and fieldwork! It is always a fun time getting out of the lab to stretch.

Troy and Jared sampling at the Franz River Campus Soccer Field Bioretention Planter.

Nick sampling at the Rainfall bucket on the Green Roof.

Typical Day in the Lab

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We analyze heavy metals and nutrients on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively. We collaborate as a team to set up and analyze standards, blanks, and individual samples for the different tests: heavy metals and nutrients. Below we have a couple of action shots of specific lab tasks:

Nick measuring pH and turbidity for his Green Roof samples.

Jared preparing the Total Phosphorus samples for the HAAC system (after 30 minutes of digestion)

Troy acid washing some of the equipment that the team needs every day: sample bottles, flasks, beakers, pipettes, etc.

Constructed Wetlands

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The wetlands are finished and establishing roots before treated wastewater will be pumped into them for testing. All five tanks have individual soil mixtures with different quantities of shredded bark, compost, and sandy loam. All of the tanks contain the same three plants.

 

Saturday Academy

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We had lots of fun this week talking with the Saturday Academy campers about what it means to be an environmental engineer and how important clean water is. We put together an activity where the kids get to build their own water filter, then see if they can improve on their designs to clean our “dirty” water as much as possible.

Katie helps the kids pour the dirty water through their filter

The kids evaluate their filter

Hydrology Apparatus

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Running water through the hydrology apparatus at the different levels to find the rating curve