Ten Westminster College chemistry/biochemistry majors presented water quality results at the Nov. 10 meeting of the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition (SRWC) at Jennings Environmental Education Center.

The field and laboratory results are part of a service-learning project completed in an "Advanced Laboratory" class taught by Dr. Helen Boylan, Westminster associate professor of chemistry.

Water samples were collected from DeSale Phase II, a passive treatment site in Butler County.  The site relies on natural processes - wetlands, settling ponds, and limestone drains - to treat the high acidity and metal concentrations resulting from abandoned coal mining operations.

The students' results confirm the DeSale passive treatment facility is still working well.

"This collaboration between the SRWC and Westminster chemistry students is in its sixth year," Boylan said.  "SRWC members Wil Taylor and Cliff Denholm have been instrumental in facilitating this service-learning project."

Boylan, a Westminster graduate who joined the faculty in 2001, earned a Ph.D. from Duquesne Univesity.

Contact Boylan at (724) 946-6293 or email for additional information.

(L-r) Stephen Cornich, Danielle Figueroa, Jaimie Daum, Nicole George, Sarah Welsh, Hannah Anderson, Olivia Miller, Gavin Steadman, Mark Biedka

Collecting samples