Press & Sun Bulletin

Monday, May 1, 2000

Binghamton, New York

By Tom Wilber, Staff Writer

With an $80,000 grant for drilling and testing equipment, and a nature preserve in their back yard, students at Binghamton University are learning lessons that can help them save the world. Or at least they can prepare to take on environmental problems that affect the community, including Hillcrest, where officials are searching for clues to an unusual pattern of cancers that struck children two years ago. The Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental studies has set up a field laboratory, including a drill rig, to study the 100-acre nature preserve and wetland on campus. The program will help students learn to take measurements and analyze samples to understand the geology of the watershed, which flows through Fuller Hollow Creek to the Susquehanna River. The program is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation and matching funds from the state. Students study the flow of water as it cycles through the air, ponds, streams and ground, said Karen Salvage, assistant professor of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies at BU. By understanding how the water systems works, they will learn how chemicals might spread or be trapped in the environment. "They can take this knowledge and apply it elsewhere," said Joseph Graney, an assistant professor of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies and a colleague of Salvage. For example, Graney and his students are helping the Department of Environmental Conservation study a pond in Hillcrest next to a federal storage depot that stockpiles low-level radioactive ores and heavy metals. Preliminary tests show trace levels of mercury around the facility, and officials suspect that some chemicals, including mercury, may have contaminated the pond, which sits between the depot and residences. So far, researchers have not linked the illnesses, in 1998 or earlier, to any environmental causes. But they are trying to understand the history of environmental factors related to public health. "There are ways to track the history of pollution by studying sediments in the pond," Graney said. He expected the field work, which is similar to the type of work the and his students are doing on campus, would begin this summer. BU is working with the DEC, which is overseeing the environmental investigation at the depot and other areas in Hillcrest. Abigail Santiago, a first-year graduate student from Puerto Rico, will be working on the Hillcrest case. She said she is drawn to the field by her passion for science and desire to help communities deal with environmental issues. "When you understand chemistry, you can understand a lot of other things," she said. "You can really make a difference. That's what it's all about." For Tim Ericksen, a first-year graduate student from Erie, Pa., the work at the nature preserve will help him gain experience and confidence when he works at Hillcrest or other areas. For him, the learning experience at BU "will help eliminate some potential for error," he said. Following the environmental investigation and any necessary cleanup, federal officials plan on turning the pond and the surrounding area into a nature preserve. Daniel Michaud, another BU graduate geology student, said studying the nature preserve on campus is good practice to learn lessons that can be applied elsewhere. But it is also an important study in itself. The watershed feeds the Susquehanna River, and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. Understanding the chemistry and hydrology of the nature preserve, and comparing that to the larger bodies, can help scientists understand important environmental factors that influence wildlife and the ecosystem. Biologists at BU, for example, can use data about droughts and wet cycles that can influence wildlife. "It can give some information about beaver and salamander populations, drought and wet years, and its impact in relation to the Susquehanna River," Michaud said. "It's important to understand areas upstream (of the Chesapeake Bay) and what effect the small areas have on the bigger system."