Stroud Water Research Center: dedicated to the study of streams and rivers

Stroud Water Research Center in the News

Monitors find healthy signs in Hay Creek near Birdsboro
April 21, 2010 BCTV.org, Nancy Kauffmann
In the field with Stroud Water Research Center's entomology team as they monitor the health of the Schuylkill River watershed. Read more and view photos at: http://www.bctv.org/citizen_reports/article_46164d54-4d74-11df-be30-001cc4c002e0.html

Leaf Pack: Breaking New Ground by Studying Bugs
January 2010 StormH2O.com
David C. Richardson writes in the professional journal Stormwater that Forest Grove Community School in Oregon and Mahopac High School in New York are just two of the schools that are using the Leaf Pack Experiment and getting results that are making a real difference to their communities. Read more at: http://www.stormh20.com/january-february-2010/leaf-pack-bugs.aspx

MTBE Case Uncertain Hope for Utilities
November 24, 2009 AWWA.org
ExxonMobil loses in a suit over poisoned groundwater. In this article, published by the American Water Works Association, Stroud Water Research Center scientist Anthony Aufdenkampe describes the insidious chemical MTBE and the difficulty in removing it from groundwater. Read more at: http://www.awwa.org/publications/StreamlinesArticle.cfm?itemnumber=52109&showLogin=N

Drilling for Natural Gas Jeopardizes Clean Water
November 9, 2009 Rodale.com
Journalist Leah Zerbe of Rodale News reports on the process of natural gas fracking and the potential hazards to our limited supply of drinking water. "Anytime that we consider something like mining for coal or drilling for gas, all of those processes need to be viewed through a lens of environmental protection and sustainability," says Lou Kaplan, senior scientist at the Stroud Water Research Center. Read more at: http://www.rodale.com/natural-gas-drilling

Of Special Interest

Research

Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory: Research by University of Delaware and Stroud Water Research Center scientists aims to settle a scientific debate on whether human-induced erosion modifies greenhouse gas emissions from the landscape.
Schuylkill River Project: Understanding Stream Conditions: Lessons from an 11-year Study of Macroinvertebrates in Eastern Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill River Watershed, with a focus on Exceptional-Value and High-Quality Streams.
- Read the Project Summary or the Appendix.
- Explore the Schuylkill River Project.
Protecting Headwaters: The Scientific Basis for Safeguarding Stream and River Ecosystems, a research synthesis from Stroud Water Research Center scientists. Read the executive summary or the full document.
Streamwatch Project: Water quality monitoring in White Clay Creek watershed, 1991-2008.
Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) White Clay Creek, Pennsylvania: Stream ecosystem structure and function within a maturing deciduous forest
Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) Costa Rica: Streams of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste

See more Research projects.

Education

Schuylkill Sojourn on Google Earth: Stroud Water Research Center educators and scientists took part in the 2009 sojourn titled, "Reading the River: The Science of the Schuylkill". We tracked the entire sojourn—now you can follow it on Google Earth.

Bookmarks include:
- Photographs
- Sampling locations
- Data charts
Download the Sojourn (22MB).

Don’t have Google Earth? Download the latest version.

The Model My Watershed Project website is now live. This project, funded by the National Science Foundation, provides hydrologic modeling capacity for 7th-12th grade students and allows them to model the stormwater runoff in their own neighborhoods using real data. Read more about the project.
2010 Workshops
Streamside Forests:
River Resources: links to local and national organizations concerned with water quality, watershed advocacy, and environmental education.
Mountaintop to Tap: Student trek follows New York City drinking water from Catskill Mountains to Manhattan.

See more Education projects.