Water Pollution Analysis in New Jersey, Employing the Cutting Edge Analytical Technology of Kevin Olsen Passaic River Symposium June 2010

Transcription

1 Water Pollution Analysis in New Jersey, Employing the Cutting Edge Analytical Technology of Kevin Olsen Passaic River Symposium June 2010

2 Presentation Abstract: In 1876 cities in Northern New Jersey faced a water supply crisis. The Passaic River was no longer usable as a source of potable water and alternatives had to be found. But at the time the germ theory of disease was just beginning to be accepted and there was no clear understanding of microbial action. The chemists at the New Jersey Geological Survey employed chemical methods to evaluate water supplies for disease-causing contamination. Their research lead to the development of water supply reservoirs in the New Jersey Highlands.

3 Potable water for Newark and Jersey City was taken from sites in the lower Passaic River. Even though this part of the river was tidal there was sufficient freshwater flow to meet the needs of the cities.

4 Passaic River Below the Falls, near Paterson, 1820 s

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6 1876: Newark Jersey City Hoboken Bayonne Orange Bloomfield Montclair In 1876 northern New Jersey had a population density of 1,118 persons per square mile. (For comparison, Newark today has a population density of 11,000 per square mile and Montclair has 6,056 persons per square mile.)

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8 Some Medical History

9 Dr. John Snow of London ( ) On the Mode of the Communication of Cholera, 1849 (expanded edition 1855). The 1854 cholera outbreak was traced to a single contaminated well on London s Broad Street.

10 Louis Pasteur ( ) Germ Theory and Its Applications to Medicine and Surgery, 1878.

11 The State of New Jersey was between between two major scientific landmarks.

12 What the State of New Jersey Knew and Did.

13 What was known: Persons exposed to sewage were at risk of enteric disease, however. only sewage that was generated by persons already infected with a particular disease was capable of transmitting that particular disease. What was not known: What was in the sewage and how it caused disease.

14 ...the poison that caused typhoid was almost certainly organized and living s, Dr. A. Hagler of Basel, Switzerland decomposing organic matter present in surface waters had its source in foul air , A Manual of Public Health. decomposition of organic matter produces new and unwholesome substances. These substances are the direct cause of typhoid, cholera, and other diseases 1876, NJ Geological Survey

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16 What was known: Water contaminated with sewage had high levels of nitrogen. What could be measured: Ammonia.

17 What else was known: Streams and rivers that passed through increasingly populated areas had increasing amounts of chloride. What else could be measured: The chloride ion (We would call this a marker for non-point source pollution)

18 23 Water samples tested in July and August of The samples were drawn from wells in Newark, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Camden, New Brunswick; from the upper Passaic River, the Rockaway, Ramapo, Ringwood, and Pequannock Rivers; and the Morris Canal at Bloomfield.

19 Each sample was tested for eight parameters Solid matter (dried at 212 f and ash after burning) Ammonia (free and albuminoid) Chlorine Sulfuric acid Lime Magnesium

20 2(HgI2-2KI) + NH4OH + 3 OH + 3NaOH -> OHg2NH2I (yellow) + 3H2O + 4 KI + 3 NaI The method used to test for ammonia was developed in 1856 and used Nessler s reagent. This method is still used today in clinical chemistry.

21 Enteric diseases and contaminated water, a case study from 1874

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23 December of Cases of typhoid fever Five deaths Students at St. Mary s Hall 1872 The school s well was located next to a cesspool. When cracks developed in the brick and mortar lining of the cesspool, sewage leaked into the drinking water supply. Repairing the crack halted the outbreak.

24 The Geological Survey recommended the mountainous region in the upper Passaic River basin as the new source of domestic water. They noted that in the 750 square miles of the upper basin the human population was between 50,000 and 60,000 and there were no areas of dense settlement.

25 But how to confirm that the water in the upper Passaic River basin would be suitable for domestic and industrial use? Should they perform another round of chemical testing?

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28 The decision to create surface water reservoirs in the New Jersey Highlands proved to have a lasting, positive benefit for millions of people in New Jersey.

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30 What can we learn from this? Like the Geological Survey scientists of 1876, today s environmental scientists and managers we are often required to make decisions and recommendations with incomplete data and imperfect theoretical models.

31 Thank You! Have A Great Summer!