Harrisburg, Pa. – Harrisburg University of Science and Technology has been awarded the 2021 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for the development of a digital environmental monitoring dashboard for the {Susquehanna River Basin Commission SRBC}.
The SRBC Monitoring Dashboard System, undertaken by the HU Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy (E3), incorporates analytics tools into the commission’s daily water quality monitoring activities, to provide insights on real-time data collected from satellite stations.
Spearheaded by Professors Dr. Siamak Aram, Dr. Michael Meyer, and Dr. Roozbeh Sadeghian, HU was one of 13 schools, businesses, and community organizations throughout Pennsylvania to receive this year’s award. Faculty teamed with graduate students Maria Helena Rivero, Nikesh Kumar Pahuja, Meagan Fairfield, and Joshua L. Ramirez Paulino to develop the dashboard.
“This year’s Environmental Excellence honorees showcase the innovation and passion that our students, educators, and community and business leaders bring to environmental challenges,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf stated. “Their dedication brings health, economic, and recreation benefits not only to their communities, but to all Pennsylvanians.”
During the first phase of the SRBC Monitoring project, faculty and graduate students built a machine learning model to predict the river flow of the Pine Creek Watershed in the Susquehanna River Basin. An operational dashboard was developed that maps layers of precipitation, sub-basin boundaries, water trails, soils, and bedrock geology.
During the second phase, the team added environmental parameters, including temperature, turbidity, pH, and dissolved oxygen, to enable seven-day predictions of the specific conductance of water in the watershed for more effective management of Susquehanna River Basin water resources.
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, collectively, the award-winning projects engaged hundreds of partners and resulted in:
- The creation of 8.5 acres of wetlands and 5 acres of tree or other vegetation buffers on stream banks to remove over 675 tons of sediment, 6,000 pounds of nitrogen, and 375 pounds of phosphorous annually from waterways.
- Planting of more than 3,200 native trees and shrubs that will sequester over 400,000 pounds of carbon from the air and remove more than 2,600 pounds of other air pollutants over 25 years.
- Remediation of 300,000 square feet of hazardous materials and sustainable redevelopment of nearly 200 acres of former industrial property.
- Education of more than 1,100 Pennsylvania students and nearly 24,000 residents on environmental issues.
- Over 100 new or updated Agricultural Erosion and Sediment Management Plans or Manure Management Plans.
- Installation of three air quality monitors for local communities.
- Generation of over 2.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity from solar energy.
To learn more about the SRBC Monitoring Dashboard System, please visit this link.
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