Jasper Strives to Improve Water Quality in Neighboring

BEING A student — and ultimately, a New worked with the organization since starting at Manhattan College in Yorker — means falling into step with the city’s fast-paced lifestyle and 2011 to build a formal relationship. seizing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It’s also about knowing when During the summer, Abbatangelo started exploring the possibility and where to relax. For Jaspers, that’s Van Cortlandt Park, a thousand- of expanding the data collection to monitor rainfall and precipitation acre expanse offering two public golf courses, , a brook, play- data, wind speed and direction with the creation of a weather sta- ing fields and more. Located at 242nd Street and , the city’s tion. In addition, he conducted tests alongside a few summer scholars third largest park also features ’s largest freshwater lake. evaluating pollution levels on the , to compare and con- Since December 2015, civil engineering major John Abbatangelo trast with his ongoing data. ’16 has worked alongside The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park (FVCP) to On July 13, Abbatangelo, Butler and Alex Byrne, FVCP’s environmen- improve water quality. Recently, Manhattan College, through the Civil tal educator, shared the six months of data findings at a workshop and Environmental Engineering department, forged its first official hosted by BCEQ, the Foundation for Science and Envi- partnership with FVCP to contribute to the Stewardship for a ronmental Research, Inc., along with the College’s Environmental Healthier Bronx project. Studies program, through the -New Jersey Harbor & As described in a proposal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Program. The workshop focused on water quality and coastal shore- Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Justice Small Grants Program: “The proj- line issues in the Bronx, and topics discussed included public access ect aims to identify sources of water quality impairments, complete and education for water quality and wetland restoration. wetland restoration projects, and create a wetland plan by mapping “The hope is the data will demonstrate further funding needs to potential sites for green infrastructure to restore the 56-acre Tibbetts make the wetlands healthier,” says Christina Taylor, executive direc- Wetlands within Van Cortlandt Park in the northwest Bronx.” tor of FVCP. Every week, Abbatangelo, an intern for FVCP and a lab assistant for Manhattan’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department, meets John Butler, ecological project manager for FVCP, to monitor the water quality at six sites along Tibbetts Brook and Van Cortlandt Lake, into which the brook flows. The project has received funding through grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the EPA. With the recent renewal of NFWF’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Pro- gram, FVCP plans to continue the water monitoring project into 2017. Originally, Tibbetts Brook was above ground and naturally flowed into the . In the early 1900s, it was decided that the land was too wet for development, so the brook was forced into the sewer system south of the lake. On an average dry day, 4 to 5 million gallons of water from Van Cortlandt Lake enter the Broadway sewer and are treated unnecessarily at Wards Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. “What the organizations involved want to do is daylight Tibbetts Brook,” Abbatangelo explains. “ involves bringing all of this back above ground. They are going to try and let it flow naturally into the Harlem River. One of the main points about this project is to make sure that water in Tibbetts Brook and Van Cortlandt Lake is of good standing, so it can enter the Harlem River without causing any water quality problems.” Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Jessica

Wilson, Ph.D., has mentored Abbatangelo for the past several months Civil engineering major John Abbatangelo ’16 trains high on best practices to use in the lab. She frequently meets with him to school students to test the clarity and visibility of water analyze the data and spot any trends. Wilson’s colleague Kirk Barrett, in the Van Cortlandt Lake Outfall, which feeds directly Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and into the municipal sewer system. a certified professional wetland scientist, initiated a connection with FVCP and the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ) and has

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