Water Filtration in the Bronx
Anthony Thoman
Introduction:
Whenever you take a drink out of your faucet at home, do you ever wonder if the water is really safe enough to drink? Clean drinking water is something many of us have taken for granted for years. We assume that there are no chemicals, bacteria, or any harmful particles in the water that could sicken us.
Recently, the Environmental
Protection Agency has questioned the purity of the water we consume in New York
City. For years, our city’s water has
been ranked some of the cleanest drinking water in the country. Lately though, our water has fallen under
closer scrutiny as cities like Milwaukee have witnessed large outbreaks of
sickness connected to the quality of the drinking water.
Up to 30% of our drinking water in
this city comes from a system of reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam County,
about fifty miles north of the Bronx.
Due to the construction of many new homes, institutions, and roads in
close proximity of these bodies of water, there is concern that the water's
quality will be compromised.
The Department of Environmental
Protection has ordered New York City to filter the water that comes from these
reservoirs. This means that the city
has to build a filtration plant in the Bronx that will cost around one billion
dollars. What kind of impact will this
filtration plant have on the Bronx?
Should the residents of the Bronx welcome or opposed the construction of
this plant in their midst? The
following webquest will explore the benefits and problems of building a water
filtration plant in the Bronx.
Task:
You are soon going to have a massive water filtration plant built in or near your community in the next few years. Is this a project you will support or oppose? You are going to take a stand on this issue, and ultimately debate your position in a written report and a class debate.
You are going to have to research our drinking water
situation today, familiarize yourself with the current filtration plant
proposal, and finally explore the alternatives that have been presented. After sifting through all the information,
you will emerge with a position, and have to defend it with both as a writer
and speaker.
Process:
In making an analysis as to whether
the policy of water filtration in the Bronx is the best policy to adapt, first
refer to the PPA (Public Policy Analyst), to follow the step by step process of
evaluating a proposal.
Click http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPs.htm
The following steps below outlines
the general process of PPA, in terms of gathering information, and analyzing
the proposal in relation to the alternatives.
1. Background:
First, you need to gather
information on the problem of water pollution.
Using the web site below, answer the following questions.
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/watersup.html
a. Where
does our water come from?
b. How does it get to us?
c.
What is the quality of the water we drink?
d.
What factors can compromise the quality of our drinking water?
e. Are we witnessing a
trend of our water supply becoming increasingly polluted? Next, before we proceed any further, we need to establish the
extent of water pollution in our water supply. Fill out the question sheet
using the PPA system. Connect to this link, and fill out the worksheet,
focusing on this culminating question: Does the problem of water pollution
exist in our water supply?
Select a resource that provides you with a general overview that
explains why water filtration is necessary.
2. Filtration:
Second,
you need to understand the technology of filtration.
a.
How does filtration purify water?
b. How effective is the process of
filtration proposed for New York City?
3.Citing
a filtration plant in the Bronx
a. Where in the Bronx will the plant
be built, and why?
b. How large will this plant be?
c. How much will it cost?
d. Why is the plant being built in
the location that it is?
4. Take
a position:
Based on the information at your disposal, start thinking about how you feel about this plant being built in the Bronx. Answer some of the following questions, to help you reach a position
a.
Will the plant provide local residents with new jobs?
b.
Will there be other economic benefits
provided by this plant?
c.
Will new amenities be provided in the neighborhood as a result of the
construction?
d.
Will the area be negatively impacted with the addition of this new building?
e.
Will the construction disrupt the normal functioning of the neighborhood
adjoining the site?
f.
Does the plant pose any health or safety hazards for nearby residents?
5. Explore the alternatives:
When the ultimate decision was made to build this plant, other
options were considered: from not
building a filtration plant at all to building the plant elsewhere. Identify three other alternatives, and
decide between the current decision and the three alternatives, which option
makes the most sense.
Resources:
There are two excellent sources available: newspapers and the
internet. The Riverdale Press will
provide a good chronological perspective of this issue from the time it first
became known in the late 1980s. The
internet is full of websites that address this issue. Your challenge is to
select the sites that suit your needs.
http://pbisotopes.ess.sunysb.edu/geo101/articles/exam_2/nycwater.htm
Status of New York City s Water
Supply http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/watersup.html
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/july96/pfeffer.bpf.html
http://www.epa.gov/regopm02/water/nycshed/filtad.htm
http://ny.usgs.htmls/pub/projects.html
New York City Watershed Plan
http://www.state.ny.us/watershed
Friends of Jerome ParkReservoir
http://hometown.aol.com/JeromePark/index.htm
CrotonWatershed Clean Water
Coalition
http://www.townlink.com/community_web/yorktown/watershed/cwcwc
US to sue NYC for failing to filter
water
http://www.aegis.com/news/bw/1997/bw970425.html
Filtration Agreement as posted by
the Dept. of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov.opa/pr/1998/May/226enr.html
Evaluation:
1. The student will be expected to present
two products as a result of the research.
A written
report following the steps as listed in the Process section of this
webquest. The following values will be
used in assessing the report:
20 pts: thesis: there must be a clearly stated position
20 pts: organization: the argument must have a logical and
progressive flow
40 pts: extent of research: the information collected for this project
must be thorough at least five resources, either / or internet or newspaper
should be used
20 pts: presentation of alternatives: three options beyond the initial stand must
also be presented and evaluated
___ 100 points total
1. The student will be expected to present
his point of view in a class debate. The students will form two teams, one side favoring construction,
the other opposed. After the students
have gathered in two large groups, tasks are assigned, with each student
assigned an area of expertise. Some
might be experts on filtration technology, some may be more adept in presenting
alternative scenarios, while others yet have a good historical perspective
regarding the issue.
The debate is conducted in a manner that suits the teacher and the class. It should allow for opening and concluding remarks, and set time limits for each side. An impartial jury of students should be selected to judge which side debated their point of view more effectively. Those students on average, receive higher marks. Beyond that, those students who debate their points effectively, and counter students on the opposing side will receive the best marks.
Conclusion.
This activity will hopefully heighten your awareness of an issue that is not easily
addressed. While it is important to
have high quality drinking water, what price are we willing to pay to achieve
this objective? As you should see with
your research, building a filtration plant, while on the surface, brings many
benefits, also can negatively impact the people living in New York City (and
the Bronx in particular). As is the
case with many public policy decisions, many are left unhappy with the
outcome. If this plant is built, will
you be happy with outcome?