Asking tough questions about water quality, a Pennsylvania team discovers the power of a pivot
Encompassing more than 500 square miles of central Pennsylvania, the Conodoguinet Creek watershed provides drinking water and recreational opportunities to nearly 65,000 residents. Visitors from all over come to fish in its world-renowned limestone trout streams, wading along banks where the American Revolution was fought. Full of twists and turns, the creek’s name translates to “a long way with many bends.”
Most of the watershed lies in Cumberland County, the fastest-growing county in Pennsylvania. Once mainly farmland, the region is experiencing rapid industrial and residential development that, combined with legacy rubber factories and textile mills, has strained natural resources. Sixty percent (624 miles) of the streams in the Conodoguinet Creek watershed are classified as “impaired” due to sediment, nitrates, and pathogens. In addition, other hazardous chemicals enter the waterways and impact drinking water, aquatic life, and recreation.
Multiple organizations have begun tackling the current parameters for “impaired” classification, but other toxic chemicals have gone overlooked due to the many unknowns: the sources of the pollution, what areas are most impacted, and exactly what pollutants are present.
Tamela Trussell, founder of the grassroots coalition Move Past Plastic, began to suspect that the creek may contain “forever chemicals,” especially the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found in microplastics. “I wanted to provide that knowledge that was missing in the community,” Trussell said. “There are hazardous pollutants that nobody is looking at, nobody is paying attention to, and we need to start addressing them.”
Enlisting expert help
Trussell spent years learning everything she could about PFAS and plastic. She eventually convinced town officials to test the county seat’s drinking water in Carlisle. But Move Past Plastic and other local organizations realized they lacked the capacity to investigate PFAS across the watershed more broadly, where thousands of families rely on well water. That’s when Trussell heard about Thriving Earth Exchange’s community science opportunity, and a project was born.
Thriving Earth Exchange matched Trussell, as the Community Lead, with Shashank Anand, a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M University, who facilitated the project as the Community Science Fellow. Together, they recruited scientific partners Chiara Smorada, a graduate student at Princeton University; Marissa Kulkarni, a geospatial specialist; and Astrid Lozano-Acosta, a science educator.
For his part, Shashank was enthusiastic about working directly with community members and optimistic about the project’s potential to positively impact local decisions and policies. “Communities prioritizing these scientific questions is quite important,” he said, describing community science as akin to “a two-way dialogue” between communities and scientific experts that can also inform policies.
Making the case
Like the creek, the process was a long way with many bends. After her research, Trussell felt it was evident that the region needed to know whether PFAS contamination was present in the watershed and whether it posed a threat to human and ecosystem health. She was eager to get a testing program underway, but the team found that not everyone in the local community agreed. Some organizations resisted more water testing, which Trussell attributed to a lack of knowledge about the harms of forever chemicals.
Pivoting, the team prioritized engaging and informing the public about the importance of water quality testing and reporting. Trussell did everything she could to raise awareness: compiling reports and infographics, giving interviews and issuing press releases, and writing letters and essays to get the word out to local agencies, organizations, and communities.
The team also developed tools to help residents connect to pollution issues literally right in their own backyards. A Pollution Report Form gave people a place to report pollution and other environmental concerns, while a Creek Defenders Map consolidated these reports with other data sources to map pollution sources and water quality across the watershed.
It worked. Several local organizations and universities have since launched environmental outreach programs, more people are participating in public meetings, and more wells are being tested for PFAS.
“I finally feel like there is a good baseline of education flowing into the community, and their ears and hearts are open to exploring and mitigating these pollutants in their watershed,” Trussell said. “I think a lot of that is due to our work. We have planted seeds of knowledge that are sprouting to create further conversation and investigation.”
A renewed focus on action
While the team is proud of their work to garner community buy-in, data on creek contaminants and pollution sources is still sorely lacking. In reporting on their project outcomes, the team underscores the need for continuous monitoring, data collection, and community engagement.
“I think we took a step in the right direction, because we recognized that the challenge of limited data doesn’t mean there is no pollution,” Shashank said. “So, we created a dynamic ecosystem—a report form and a pollution map—that will become more accurate as more information becomes available, continuing to evolve beyond this project’s scope.”
Reflecting on his role in the project, Shashank highlighted how community science provides a way for researchers to tap into the issues they study on a different level. “My understanding changed, and now I look at my own stuff in my apartment and see all this PFAS. Working on community projects, things become more tangible—it’s much more real now for me,” he said.
The community has also become more receptive to this work, which the team credits to the strong support they received from local and national organizations, including Cumberland County government, the Conodoguinet Creek Watershed Association, the American Geophysical Union, and numerous scientists and researchers.
Trussell is now searching for funding to perform the recommended monitoring and testing. Rather than an end product, she sees the Creek Defenders Map as a foundation that the community can continually improve upon as they strive to clean up the watershed.
Looking forward, Trussell stays focused on cultivating a connection between the community and the water. “I hope that in the future, the community has learned and will continue to learn that they are a part of the watershed,” she said. “I hope they can see the beauty that I see in it, how precious of a treasure it is, and work to protect it.”
