Thousands of bioswales had been built in New York City. Each of them helps infiltrate thousands of
gallons of stormwater runoff from streets, alleviating the pressure on wastewater treatment plants and
reduce the combined sewer overflow – the leading cause of water quality problem for major cities.
These bioswales also accumulate pollutants in the runoff, thus could serve as an indicator of air quality
around the bioswale. Topsoil samples have been collected from dozens of bioswales in New York City.
We are looking for a student to perform lab and data analysis, to investigate the potential relationships
between soil metal contents, land use, traffic density, and other variables.