American Society of Engineering Education - North Central Section Spring Conference 2018

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Manganese, Mercury & Aluminum Levels in the Waters of Belle Isle

This is a student poster representing the work done by community college students as they study and explore research through monitoring of the Detroit River.

The Detroit River is shared by the United States and Canada and is used as a waterway for the transport of goods and for recreation. Many industries over the past 400 years have called the shoreline of the Detroit River home thus making the shoreline susceptible to various pollutants causing these fresh water ecosystems to almost completely collapse. In 1972 the “Clean Water Act” gave the EPA the power to set standards to regulate wastewater discharge and industries began to be held accountable for the amount of pollutants released into the waterways.

In this study, water samples were collected from four locations on Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, and tested for the presence of mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn) and aluminum (Al). The results for Hg and Al were within EPA suggested parameters for drinking water throughout the six week sampling period. However, Mn levels exceeded the EPA drinking water guideline during two of the six weeks of this study.

Sherita Czajka
Wayne County Community College
United States

Barbara Radecki
Wayne County Community College
United States

 

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