Register here: https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdu2hpj8oGtAmOMQutMK8R

Every year, the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) at Cornell supports research that addresses critical water resource issues in New York State and the nation. The seminar will focus on ways in which robust science can support and influence on-ground water management and policy outcomes, and center collaborative and interdisciplinary work between academics, water resource scientists, educators, managers, and policymakers.

Abstract: 

Manganese (Mn) is an essential element for life processes, but it becomes harmful to human health at elevated levels. The 2016 drought in Tompkins County, NY caused an increase in dissolved Mn in the Ithaca Reservoir, a major source of tap water for Ithaca. In collaboration with Cornell’s Ecological Engineering Lab and the Ithaca Water Treatment Plant (IWTP), this project seeks to determine the contribution of sediments to the dissolved Mn concentration in the Ithaca Reservoir. In addition, we are combining water quality and chemical data to analyze the relationships between biogeochemical factors (such as pH and dissolved oxygen) and Mn concentrations. This research contributes to a longer-term project to develop an interactive calculator for the IWTP to predict reservoir Mn concentrations, adjust the treatment plant’s oxidant dosing accordingly, and continue to provide safe drinking water for the Ithaca community.

Speaker Bios:

Matthew Reid joined the Cornell CEE faculty in July, 2016. He received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University in 2014 and a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 2004. From 2004 - 2006 he taught high school chemistry with the U.S. Peace Corps in Karatu, Tanzania. Upon returning to the United States, he began working in the environmental sciences as a laboratory technician in chemical oceanography at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Since 2014, he has worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on microbially driven arsenic cycling in rice paddy soils.

Evie Brahmstedt  is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Biological and Environmental Engineering department at Cornell, and a Research and Outreach Specialist, at NYSWRI. Evie works within the fields of contaminant ecology and water quality in the natural environment. Past research topics focused on examining mercury mobilization in wetlands along the Upper St. Lawrence River and across Northern New York. She received a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from St. Lawrence University, and both her M.S. and Ph.D. from Clarkson University’s Institute for a Sustainable Environment in Environmental Science & Engineering.