Non-point pollution in the Mission district

1. Non-point pollution in the Mission district Students tested the water quality around John O’Connell High school. 18th Street John O’Connell High School 20th Street Harrison St. Treat Street Jo Hautea1, Yezenia Ibarra1, Edna Lin2, Jessica Lin1, Larissa Martinez1, Yvette Muhawieh1, Ruben Negrete1, Monique Orea1, Maria Romero1, Alejandro Sanchez1, Claire Bailey3, Jim-neiss3 1John O’Connell High School, San Francisco, CA 2Lowell High School, San Francisco, CA 3San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA Folsom Street Shotwell Street 22nd Street Introduction Pollution can be categorized into two main categories: non-point source and point source. Point source pollution is pollution that can be traced back to a single point of origin, such as factories, power plants, and sewage treatment facilities. Non-point source pollution is the opposite; pollution that cannot be traced back to a single point of origin. These types of sources include cars, lawns, houses, parks, and people. Both types of sources contribute to the contamination of the bay. A body of young scientists from SFROCKS conducted a study that involves the health of a local community with respect to the regional contaminants. These young scientists tested the overall health of water that enters the storm drains in the Mission District around John O’Connell High School. These young scientists are testing for contaminants in the sewer systems. In San Francisco, these storm drains empty into the same sewer system that treats the waste produced in the bathrooms of every building in San Francisco. After being treated for fecal matter, this water is discharged directly into the San Francisco Bay. Therefore, by studying the water that goes into the storm drains, we can infer which anthropogenic contaminants that enter the Bay and harm the adjacent ecology. The goals of these young scientists are to pin point the source of pollution that contaminates the bay and to stop it. They found out so much about our neighborhood. They never knew that all these contaminants were so harmful to their environment and harmful to them. Therefore they went out to find were these pollutants are coming from and to hopefully stop them. To do that they tested the pollutants and found out the information that’s written on this poster. Methods Sample device The device that was used to collect water was both designed and made by the students of SFRocks. The collecting devices were installed in the month of February of 2009 with the help of San Francisco Public Utility Commission. They were installed near and around John O’Connell High School. Sample collection The samples were collected on a Saturday after each rain fall A Barnant E-S portable pump, storm catcher was removed from sample devices Samples were stored in 1 liter Nalgene bottled, labeled, and cataloged Chemical Method Cooking oil and grease: EPA Method 1664 Car oil: EPA method 8260b Phosphate: PhosVer 5 using a Hach Colorimeter-DR/850 Lead: samples were filtered to 0.2 m, acidified with concentrated HCI and analyzed on an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Bay Watershed Education Training (B-WET) Program (NA06NOS4290174CFDA11.429) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the support of this project, also Tomio Takeshita, George Castro, Mark Middleton, and Scott Taylor from the Public Utilities Commission for their guidance on the project and for helping us install our sample catchment devices. In addition we would like to thank Ms. Rege for being intelligent and glamorous. We love you Ms. Rege.