A recent publication on Coursey Pond is the subject of a story featured in the University of Delaware's on-line news source, UDaily. The publication stems from research conducted by a team led by DGS staff member A.
The long-term performance of rapid infiltration basin systems (RIBS) and their potential impacts on the receiving environment have been previously unknown for Delaware. A variety of field experiments were conducted to characterize the geology and hydrogeology of a RIBS facility that has been in operation for more than 20 years at Cape Henlopen State Park. Pairs of standard monitoring wells and short-screened multi-level wells were used to evaluate the significance of small-scale vertical variability in water quality.
The Delaware Geological Survey released a new technical report entitled “Groundwater Quality and Monitoring of Rapid Infiltration Basin Systems, Theory and Field Experiments at Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware” which was prepared by A. Scott Andres and Changming He of the Delaware Geological Survey, Edward Walther of the South Water Management District, Florida, Müserref Türkmen of the Izmir Water and Sewerage Administration, Turkey, and Anastasia Chirnside and William Ritter of the University of Delaware. DGS Bulletin 21C documents the results of a detailed study of groundwater quality at a rapid infiltration basin system.
A rapid infiltration basin system (RIBS) consists of several simple and relatively standard technologies; collection and conveyance of wastewater, treatment, and discharge to an unlined excavated or constructed basin. By design, the effluent quickly infiltrates through the unsaturated or vadose zone to the water table. During infiltration, some contaminants may be treated by biological and/or geochemical processes and diluted by dispersion and diffusion.
This technical report evaluates several aspects of potential environmental risks, use, and regulation of rapid infiltration basin systems (RIBS) in Delaware. The report reviews and compares regulations regarding RIBS from Delaware, Florida,North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Influent and effluent samples from ten advanced wastewater treatment systems that operate in conjunction with RIBS were collected and analyzed.
Three University of Delaware scientists are studying tidal water flow and sediment movement in a Kent County salt marsh to better understand changes to the marsh ecosystem due to a rising sea level.
More money would go to projects that make Delaware cleaner, greener and safer under a mostly no-growth budget outlined Monday by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Agency Secretary Collin P. O'Mara asked the Office of Management and Budget for about $35.2 million in general funds for the fiscal year that begins July 1, with health care costs accounting for most of the nearly $2 million increase from the current year.
Thomas McKenna was quoted in the News Journal feature on Toxic Water
Francois Morel, Albert G. Blanke Jr. Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University, and William H. Schlesinger, president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, will present scientific talks during the official launch of the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) at the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall in Newark, Del., on Friday, Oct. 23.
