Parts of New England are prone to higher levels of arsenic in private well waters due to geological leeching. Since our lab is interested in looking at the effects of arsenic and nutrition, we are part of a SEPA program tilted “From Data to Action: A rural school-based citizen science project to increase data literacy and eliminate arsenic from drinking water in Maine and New Hampshire”. Our lab works with school teachers as they conduct experiments in their classes testing Arsenic from private well waters. Once we receive the data we then share it to the community to inform them about any potential hazards. This year, we had much higher levels of Arsenic registered Bow private wells. So with the help of Bow High School chemistry teacher Brenda Mitchell, we organized an Arsenic fair for the public to inform them of our results. Josh and Emilyann talked about the arsenic research in our lab and also had live demonstrations of how heart beat of Daphnia is affected when exposed to diffrent concentrations of Arsenic. Overall, it was a learning experinece as we took our research beyong our lab into the broader community.
