BIO

My name is Maddie and I'm a first-year student double majoring in International Affairs and Environmental Science at Florida State University looking to pursue a career in environmental policy. I am passionate about research and community engagement as ways of creating tangible change in my community. I hope to utilize my perspective as a student and global citizen to lead, uplift, and inspire, and research is the perfect outlet for that.

GIS Analysis of Heavy Precipitation Events and Contaminants in Lake Munson, FL

Abstract

In the past month, nearly 40,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater has spilled into Tallahassee waterways as a result of aging infrastructure. Although these spills have harmed community health and water supplies, the City of Tallahassee is not required to test for contaminants past a certain distance from the point source of the spill. However, independent tests by the Tallahassee Sewage and Wakulla Basin Advocacy Group have suggested that these contaminants travel far beyond the bounds of municipal testing. Tallahassee’s average heavy rainfall and waterway interconnectedness could suggest a correlation between heavy precipitation events and these contaminant flows. First, the threshold for a heavy precipitation event (HPE) was defined using rainfall data for the Tallahassee area. Historical rainfall data was then compared with said threshold to indicate HPEs. Finally, HPEs and contaminant concentrations were mapped onto a GIS map of the Tallahassee area to assess any correlations between heavy rainfall and contaminant flows in the Munson Slough. Results are still preliminary and data is still being processed, but future work to correlate contaminant movement with other natural factors could help shed further light on how pervasive the issue of wastewater spills are in Tallahassee.

Keywords: wastewater spill, Tallahassee, GIS