Tag Archives: learning

Catskills Boating with ReservoirLAB!

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The view from the ReservoirLAB launch Chandler’s Cove on the Neversink Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains.

HarborLAB warmly invites NYC public schools and community organizations to paddle with us for FREE on our Neversink Reservoir kayak and canoe fleet to learn about the natural and engineering wonders that make our city’s water wealth possible!

Here are our initial program dates:

June 10 and 11
July 8 and 9
August 5 and 6
Sept 10 and 11
Sept 17 and 18
Oct 8 and 10
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We’ll add dates as volunteer staffing and public demand both grow.
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To participate please email edu@harborlab.org with the subject line “Neversink Reservoir.” To volunteer for this program, please email volunteer@harborlab.org with the subject line “Neversink Reservoir.”

All adult participants must have free access permits from the NYCDEP. Apply here:  http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/recreation/access.shtml

No permit is required of children under the age of 16 if accompanied by a valid permit holder over the age of 18, as will always be the case with our programs. Anyone 16 years old or older must apply for a permit.

Bus transportation grants are available from the Watershed Agricultural Council for groups incorporating forestry education into their visits to the Neversink Reservoir. ReservoirLAB will take participants on forest walks and using NYCDEP materials we’ll teach how forests protect and clean our drinking water. Classroom visits by NYCDEP professional educators also cover this topic. Apply for grants here:  http://www.nycwatershed.org/forestry/education-training/urbanrural-school-based-education-initiative/bus-tours/ 

We’re grateful to HarborLAB Camping Co-Manager Ray Tan for exploring alternative affordable busing options.

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HarborLAB educator Kamala Redd and camping co-manager Ray Tan exult in the knowledge that ReservoirLAB will soon launch!

 

The ReservoirLAB program is provided by HarborLAB volunteers and was made possible by a Catskill Watershed Corporation grant and its kind donation of boat racks; the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, which taught our volunteers to be “watershed docents” and provides reservoir access (NYCDEP also provided funds to the CWC for the grant); and ExxonMobil’s community outreach program for the Greenpoint Remediation Project, which financed a dozen volunteers’ Red Cross certification in CPR, AED, and First Aid (all for juveniles and adults) and basic water rescue for all of our programs from the Newtown Creek to the Neversink Reservoir. HarborLAB Facilities Manager Patricia Erickson is kindly allowing HarborLAB to use her mobile home as a camping base (for volunteers serving multiple days) and equipment storage site near the Neversink River and reservoir. Frost Valley YMCA has stored our five canoes and ten tandem kayaks, and our paddles and live vests, while we completed training and permits.

Below is a gallery of photos from a recent site coordination meeting of HarborLAB volunteers with NYCDEP and CWC officials at the Neversink Reservoir. Note nearby campgrounds, posters about invasive species and other environmental matters, a hiking path, Chandler’s Cove, and the boat racks donated to us by the CWC.

ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.
ReservoirLAB, a HarborLAB program based at the Neversink Reservoir, provides educational paddling programs to teach NYC youth about our drinking water.

Sweet Sweep of the Creek!

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HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.

HarborLAB volunteers, environmental science students from CUNY LaGuardia Community College, and a mix of visitors from other schools and walks of life had a fantastic time tending to the Newtown Creek on Saturday! Our work was part of the annual Riverkeeper Sweep of Hudson River and estuary sites from New York City to Albany. Our Newtown Creek home base is a waterway so blighted with pollution that it qualifies for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund cleanup program.

HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep had two basic components, cleaning and gardening. We offered a variety of activities so that people of all ages and abilities could participate. More than 30 people helped over the course of the day. We were especially grateful to have educators among us to add learning to the labor. Holly Porter-Morgan, Diana Szatkowski, Harald Parzer, and Thomas Dieter brought knowledge and encouragement to our students and volunteers.

The core of the program was removing plastics from our shoreline and the creek itself. Volunteers wend their way through broken bulkheads and boat lines to pick trash from the shores while our canoes went out in two waves to scoop up litter, mostly plastic bottles and bags. These smaller items filled seven large trash bags. Larger hauls included a lawn mower, two chairs, a 55-gallon steel drum, a bird feeder, and antiquated electronic sound systems.

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We’re under no delusion that our cleanups will remove the tonnage necessary for an ecosystem rebound, but the exercise educates people about the severity of the plastics problem. So what works if picking up plastics is a measure that’s too little, too late? Recycling is also an inadequate solution by itself because it requires a great amount of energy (often from carbon-releasing fossil sources) and sustained administrative focus. With petroleum and other commodity prices low, private carters in New York City are recycling even less material than usual despite New York City’s public commitment to eliminating waste. While a reduction in unthinking, rampant consumerism is laudable, instilling new virtues across the culture will be a slow process. Real penalties and enforcement for littering will help a bit, but not enough. That leaves voters and activists to demand a reduction in wasteful packaging at the design and production stage. We must also push to eliminate combined sewer overflows, which gulch marine debris as well as pathogens and other pollutants.

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Gardening was also a big part of the day, and is a huge part of HarborLAB’s work. Volunteers — especially a group from New Hyde Park High School — made thousands of native pokeweed seed balls that we’ll distribute as we land at rest stops on our harbor journeys across to stabilize shorelines, buffer storm surges and waves, feed birds, and sustain pollinators. Those up for heavier lifting helped restore our shoreline by layering cocoa husks from MAST Brothers Chocolate with burlap sacks, kitchen scraps, and soil in a system called “lasagna composting.” This fresh soil covers a broken brick substrate that mimics the glacially transported rocks of our region. The resulting slop will be planted with staghorn sumac, pokeweed, goldenrod, milkweed, and other indigenous species, and footed by smooth cordgrass and shellfish. Some of these species are already making headway. We were delighted to see that our dozens of shadbush saplings were fruiting copiously and our hackberry and American persimmon are also thriving. Our raised bed and container-grown dessert cultivars are doing great too, including apricots, apples, pears, and figs.

We’re tremendously grateful to all who came and helped, and to Riverkeeper for creating this unifying event and helping direct volunteers to sites.

 

HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.
HarborLAB’s Newtown Creek Sweep, part of the Riverkeeper Sweep event at sites from NYC to Albany.

 

 

Readying for Winter…and Spring! :)

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Diana, Miyeon, and EJ at work on the second shed.

HarborLAB volunteers had an amazingly productive Sunday, and had lots of fun in the process! Our goals were to winterize our Newtown Creek waterfront site and prepare it for transformation into the GreenLaunch in the spring. It sure felt like spring already!

We assembled a second shed and platform, repaired “The Jenni” tandem Folbot kayak for use by Baruch College environmental science classes (named for our late friend and CUNY alumna, Jenni Jenkins), set up planters and protected fruit trees from root freeze with vinyl and bags of cocoa shells, gathered seeds (especially pokeberry, goldenrod, and milkweed) for habitat and shoreline stabilization, and protected public boats from UV degradation with tarps. We donated many bricks to Build it Green, delivering them by van. Our bricks, which are molded with holes, are being built sideways into walls in South Africa to allow air circulation.

Many thanks to Patricia Erickson, who directed the day’s work as HarborLAB’s facilities manager and chair of the GreenLaunch committee. A special acknowledgment to Shawn and Miyeon Cornell, who were married just this month and shared this special time with us as stellar volunteers. They are CUNY students, as is Diana Arias, another fantastic volunteer who threw herself into the work (we met her through the great Baruch College ECO Club). Rounding out the crew were Irene McLoughlin, Alessandro Byther (daring Alpinist of bricks and plastic heights), Jenna Nugent, Davis Janowski, Erik Baard, and EJ Lee (HarborLAB operations manager and a CUNY alumna).

Great thanks also to Schuman Properties for our launch and to Citizens Committee for NYC for the initial GreenLaunch project grant.  Much gratitude also to Folbot, Lamar Outdoors, Dorothy Morehead for our supplies.

HarborLAB Intern Presentation on Water Quality

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HarborLAB Environmental Science Intern Erik Yax Garcia of Keuka College made a presentation about water quality sampling and testing to the Hunters Point Community Middle School this week. He demonstrated sampling and explained the need for precise, uniform techniques. Then in the classroom he gave a PowerPoint presentation about the science used to identify water quality problems and solutions.

“For me it was a great experience to work with middle school students and it was very challenging because they would ask for details and deep explanations,” Erik said. He noted that a central question was, “what can we do to have clean water?”

Thanks to a grant from the United Nations Federal Credit Union, Erik takes weekly water samples from Willow Lake and Gantry Plaza State Park for pathogen testing at The River Project. He also picks up Bronx Kill samples taken by Randall’s Island Park Alliance. The lab’s looking for Enterococcus, a kind of bacteria that normally lives in human intestines and can therefore reveal the presence of sewage in a waterway. Rainstorms overwhelm our waste water treatment facilities because household water and street runoffs pour into the same tubes and containments. When that happens, raw sewage is released into the estuary in “combined sewer overflows” (CSOs) to prevent disease-bearing foul waters from backing up into homes and streets.

Erik’s visit melded with the students’ curriculum, said science teacher Mary Mathai. “Erik Yak’s presentation was very informative. This worked very well since in their present unit of study, we have been talking about the enterococcus bacterial levels in the water and about CSO’s,” she said.

Mathai praised how methodical Erik was in his instruction. “He introduced students to the sampling sites in his presentation. He also showed them a video on the CSO’s.  This was followed by a demonstration of how water samples are collected with importance given to preservation of the samples and avoidance of contaminating the samples.Photographs of the enterococcus bacteria were shown to students.  This was very much tied into what students were learning in the classroom, since they were involved in a project based learning activity regarding CSO’s and water quality in New York Harbor.  Students were then taken to the sampling site in Long Island City, where Erik demonstrated the water sample collection.  This was followed by a question and answer session,” she recounted.

 

NYC is behind schedule in fixing the CSO problem, but has spent billions of dollars toward that end in recent years. Traditional engineering solutions are termed “grey infrastructure” because they rely on concrete catch basins and new facilities. Another set of solutions gaining favor now are grouped together as “green infrastructure” because they rely on plants and are sustainable and resilient. Green roofs, bioswales, tree pits, and other planting absorb rainwater into soft earth and up through roots so that less pours into the sewer system.

We’re happy to report that water at Gantry Plaza State Park, where HatbotLAB will offer public paddling this summer, has tested as cleaner than other western Queens sites (Hallets Cove, Anable Basin, Newtown Creek) in this year’s first few weeks. This activity is part of a broader “citizen science” project coordinated by the NYC Water Trail Association, a network of paddling and rowing groups that HarborLAB Founder Erik Baard also initiated and co-founded.
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The students revealed that they have a big stake in improving water quality, Erik said. “I also spoke about HarborLAB’s paddling program and many students seemed to be excited about it!”