Team Returns to the Gulf Coast to Collect Environmental Samples (web article--photo gallery)
On September 13, Kellogg Schwab, PhD, returned to the U.S. Gulf Coast for the second time since the region was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Schwab, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-director of the Center for Water and Health, spent three days with colleagues testing tap water at Red Cross Shelters in Mississippi and collecting water, soil and air samples in New Orleans. The samples from New Orleans will be tested at the Bloomberg School and will be used as a baseline for determining the level of contamination in the city after it was flooded.
Technicians Kathryn Kulbicki (far left) and D’Ann Williams assist Kellogg Schwab with environmental sampling at Lake Pontchartrain.
“In New Orleans, almost every building we saw had some sort of damage,” said Schwab. “The hurricane wind damage and flooding were extensive, impacting almost the entire city.” --Tim Parsons