Environment

Volunteers Take Action To Monitor Centre County’s Watersheds

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I am one of the volunteers that monitors the streams in Center County, PA.

The following article appeared in The Centre Daily Times on June 6, 2021:

Volunteers take action to monitor Centre County’s watersheds
BY KEN JOHNSON

Late last year an effort was made to determine the effectiveness of some our volunteer water monitoring groups in aiding in determining our state’s compliance to the watershed clean-up efforts. CCPaSEC was qualified due to their extensive data (more than 12 years), their quality assurance program and association with Clear Water conservancy, Penn State’s “Shale Network,” Penn State laboratories, the Centre County RSVP and Centre County Conservation Services.

The Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps, a nonprofit associated with the ClearWater Conservancy and the Centre County RSVP, has been monitoring many of our local streams since 2003. Pennsylvania is second only to Alaska in the number of natural clear-water surface streams. Pennsylvania’s streams constitute a major source of water entering the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and is subject to federal concern due to pollution, including that from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Pennsylvania’s AMD abatement and treatment program (AMD Set-Aside Program) was first authorized in 1990. Our mission is to inform the public and our county leadership of the quality and health of our local streams.

WHAT DO CCPASEC VOLUNTEERS DO? CCPaSEC’s volunteers are dedicated to help Centre County compliance with our state and federal stream monitoring standards. The CCPaSEC members support 13 teams that, weather and conditions permitting, monitor many streams each month using field kits equipped with instruments and chemical reagents to measure levels (mg/L) of phosphate, nitrate, sulfate and alkalinity, flow (m3/sec), pH, and conductivity. Twice a year they perform counts of macroinvertebrates — those little creatures like mayflies, Stonefly Larvae and riffle beetle that indicate year-round stream health.

WATERSHEDS CLEANUP DAY
The ClearWater Conservancy held its annual Watersheds Cleanup Day on April 24. The first Cleanup Day was held in 1997. Over these 24 years, roughly 6 million pounds of trash has been removed from our roadways and streams, all done by volunteers. The CCPaSEC is a division of the ClearWater Conservancy and the Centre County Retired Senior Volunteers Program (RSVP) has been participating in the cleanup effort over the years. This year we had eight of our members participating. We concentrated our efforts in the Buffalo Run watershed area, and did our cleanup
https://eedition.centredaily.com/ccidist-replica-reader/?epub=https://eedition.centredaily.com/ccidist-ws/mcclatchy/mcclatchy_stc_newsbroad/issues/61… 1/26/10/2021 SENIOR CORPS
along Filmore Road, Upper Gyp Road, and Valleyview Road. All of these roadways border on or have tributaries to Buffalo Run. The total bags for the cleanup day this year was 217. The CCPaSEC volunteers collected of 36 bags of that total.

Since our main volunteer effort is monitoring the quality of Centre County streams, we view it as important to continue our participation in the Cleanup Day campaign. After all, we do “all live downstream.”
DEDICATION TO CENTRE COUNTY WATERSHEDS In 2020, CCPaSEC members logged 2041.4 hours of volunteer service in their mission to gather and publish data on the quality of water in the streams of Centre County.

The value of those hours to the community in 2019 dollars is $51,871.97 and in the past 7 years, (2014-2020), $433,128.27. CCPaSEC works with several organizations, universities and youth groups to carry out projects benefiting Centre County watersheds.
Through the pandemic the group continued to meet using the internet and to preform field surveys when permitted by the Pennsylvania COVID-19 regulations.

CCPaSEC’s water monitoring efforts are no longer limited to seniors. Previously, the RSVP restricted membership to seniors, due to provisions imposed by the AmeriCorps for supplemental accident insurance to cover costs over and above what you may already have and it is only for accidents that occur during volunteer service. Now, the ClearWater Conservancy allows its members to participate by providing Clearwater members with additional accident insurance while participating in in volunteer activity.

You must join either organization to participate with a survey team. If you wish to join one of our volunteer teams, please contact either the Centre County ClearWater Conservancy or the Centre County RSVP.

For more information, visit http//www.ccpasec.org

KEN JOHNSON IS THE CCPASEC PUBLIC RELATIONS RESOURCE ADVISOR.

West Nile Virus

Bill1 Comment

West Nile virus is back in the news.

Centre Daily Times – October 5, 2018

With the exceptional amount of rain over the summer in our local area (over 20 inches during the past 3 months), there are more hospitable environments for mosquitos, the main carriers of the virus. The West Nile virus is most commonly spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. Infected mosquitoes then spread West Nile virus to people and other animals by biting them.

West_Nile

West Nile is not spread:

  • By coughing, sneezing, or touching.
  • By touching live animals.
  • From handling live or dead infected birds. Avoid bare-handed contact when handling any dead animal. If you are disposing of a dead bird, use gloves or double plastic bags to place the carcass in a garbage can.
  • Through eating infected birds or animals. Always follow instructions for fully cooking meat from either birds or animals.

Symptoms

Most people infected with the West Nile virus have no signs or symptoms.

About 20 percent of people develop a mild infection called West Nile fever. Common signs and symptoms include:

  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Body aches
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue
  • Skin rash

Prevention

  • Once a week, empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out items that hold water, such as tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools, birdbaths, flowerpots, or trash containers.
  • Use insect repellent with one of the active ingredients below. When used as directed, EPA-registered insect repellents are proven safe and effective.
    • DEET
    • Picaridin (known as KBR 3023 and icaridin outside the US)
    • IR3535
    • Oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE)
    • Para-menthane-diol (PMD)
    • 2-undecanone

Carbon Dioxide Levels

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The current level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is about 440 parts per million (ppm). The CO2 levels are officially measured at three “pristine” sites: Mauna Loa, HI; Barrow, AK; and Grimes Point, Tasmania. However, levels encountered in some of our day-to-day experiences are higher. OSHA set the acceptable level of CO2 in the workplace to 1000 parts per million. However, this is often exceeded in some office buildings, schools, and homes.

Each and every one of us exhales CO2 at a level of about 40000 ppm. It follows that in some poorly ventilated enclosures that levels of CO2 are above 1000 ppm. Some office meeting rooms are at 1900 ppm or more. Airliners in flight have levels around 1400 ppm. Cars with recirculated air can reach a level that is 4 times the acceptable level.

Effects of CO2 in the air:

  • <150 ppm: all vegetation dies
  • 400 ppm: background (normal) outdoor air level
  • 400-1,000 ppm: typical levels found in occupied spaces with good air exchange
  • 1,000-2,000 ppm: level associated with complaints of drowsiness and poor air
  • 2,000-5,000 ppm: level associated with headaches, sleepiness, and stagnant, stale, stuffy air; poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate and slight nausea may also be present
  • >5,000 ppm: This indicates unusual air conditions where high levels of other gases also could be present. Toxicity or oxygen deprivation could occur. This is the permissible exposure limit for daily workplace exposures.
  • >40,000 ppm: This level is immediately harmful due to oxygen deprivation.

This would explain why some people nod off during meetings and in class. The dangers of high levels in unventilated cars are obvious. The efforts to make office buildings and homes more energy efficient have made them more airtight. This has caused the CO2 levels to increase within. The new LEED standards include air quality standards to mitigate the effects of high CO2 levels. One double-blind study shows that high CO2 levels also have a profound effect on our cognitive ability (Allen et al. 2015). The study found that the decision-making performance of working professionals became impaired at high CO2 levels. Averaged across all metrics, performance was reduced by 15% at 945 ppm and 50% at 1400 ppm compared to the 550 ppm control. The annual increase in carbon dioxide levels is about 2 ppm. At that rate, it would take over four centuries to double the current concentration. However, in reality, vegetation would increase and absorb more carbon. So, another way to mitigate CO2 levels is to introduce more plants inside office buildings, homes, and schools.
References:
Allen, J.G., MacNaughton, P., Satish, U., Santanam, S., Vallarino, J., Spengler, J.D., Environmental Health Perspectives 124, 805 (2015).

Stream Water Data Collection

BillLeave a comment

On Thursday, May 19, I joined a team of volunteers that collect and analyze water samples taken from rivers, lakes and streams in Centre County, PA. The two sample sites that we visited are along Little Fishing Creek near Hublersburg, PA.

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Chemical analysis of the water samples was conducted at each site. Samples were tested for dissolved oxygen, akilinity, pH, conductivity, nitrates, phosphates and sulphates. Also, at both sites, the width of the creek was measured, along with the depth at 10 points across the stream, and the speed of the water flow was taken at those same points.

IMG_0231

While the chemical analysis is being conducted, other volunteers collect the fauna from the stream. The bottom of the stream was stirred up and then collected with a fine netting.

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The collected silt is then spread out on the mesh, using a table, and then, using large tweezers, various invertebrates were collected, sorted and counted.

There is a web page for the organization, which includes Google spreadsheets for the data.