Graduate Research Assistant
Tempe, Az
Project: Regional Water Quality Monitoring (Taste and Odor)• Preparing and collecting water samples from various canals, rivers and waste water treatment plants, every month in Phoenix area, as part of the using specific sampling and field procedures. Some of the collection sites include Peoria WTP, Glendale WTP, Tonto National Park etc.• Performing several tests to monitor the quality of water sampled and producing quantitative data for better understanding of taste and odor (T&O) occurrence, control, and treatment and improving the dissolved organic and algae dynamics and initiate a forum to discuss and address regional water quality issues• The monitoring benefits local Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) by optimizing ongoing operations (i.e., reducing operating costs), improving the quality of municipal water for consumers, facilitating long-term water quality planning, and providing information on potentially future-regulated compounds. ASU has been monitoring water quality in terminal reservoirs (Lake Pleasant, Saguaro Lake, and Bartlett Lake) continuously from 1998 to the present for algae-related constituents (taste and odors, and more recently cyanotoxins), nutrients, and disinfection by-product precursors (i.e., total and dissolved organic carbon and organic nitrogen)• Analyzing study for chemical and microbial contaminants - TOC/TN content using a TOC Laboratory analyzer, UV transmittance (254nm wavelength) and detection of E. coli and Mycobacterium colonies by membrane filtration. The petri dishes for the microbial analysis are kept 1-2 weeks for incubation and then the colonies are counted.• Compiling, arranging and entering data into Microsoft excel for publishing in the monthly WET Center newsletter
