Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Ben Kisila
The Augusta Free Press highlighted research being done by Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Sciences Ben Kisila in an article titled “Researchers shed light on water quality impacts of Fredericksburg region.”
According to the article, Kisila will assist David Sample, a professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering, in a study of urban runoff quality from Fredericksburg’s local sub-watersheds that will also include the assessment of stormwater controls. Lee Daniels, a professor in Virginia Tech’s School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, will also assist with tracking the formation of strongly acidic soils in the region and analyzing solutions to mitigate their effects.
The study “will estimate the mass of pollutants – nitrogen, phosphorus and suspended solids – from the City of Fredericksburg’s stormwater system during storm events, working from five sites linked to five different forms of land use: residential, high-density residential, commercial, industrial and parks. This work marks a comprehensive research effort to revisit pollutant loads developed in a national study nearly 40 years ago – values that still guide state and federal storm water management programs today.”