‘People, Water and Septic’ presentation set at Coastal Studies Institute

Published 12:21 pm Thursday, December 12, 2019

: Outer Banks Field Site students in the lifesaving boat at the Pea Island Lifesaving Station Cookhouse Museum in Manteo are, front to back, left to right, Claire Bradley, Emma Calhoun, CriShaun Hardy, Avery Morea, Rachel O'Reilly, Connor Badgett, Hayley Kaplan, Anna-Gray Anderson, Emily Galvin, Sarah Henshaw, Bailey Williams and Peter Marcou. Courtesy Coastal Studies Institute

ECU Integrated Coastal Programs and the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) are hosting the annual Capstone research project presentation from the students of the UNC Institute for the Environment’s Outer Banks Field Site (OBXFS).

The OBXFS is a semester-long, interdisciplinary residential learning experience for UNC Chapel Hill undergraduate students and is hosted by the ECU Outer Banks Campus. The 2019 Capstone research presentation is focused on septic systems in a changing coastal landscape and will be given by the students of the 2019 Outer Banks Field Site.

Aerial view of Nags Head. Courtesy Coastal Studies Institute

Each fall, students from the UNC Institute for the Environment spend a semester at the Outer Banks Field Site where they take classes, engage in internships and complete a Capstone research project. This year, the students concentrated their research on indicators of the separation between the groundwater table and septic drain fields in the Gallery Row sub-watershed and associated risks perceived by stakeholders. Their presentation, entitled “People, Water, and Septic: A Coastal Case Study” will highlight their findings and debut their three-episode podcast, “Flushed.” The program will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, December 12 at the Coastal Studies Institute located on the ECU Outer Banks Campus at 850 NC 345 in Wanchese. The presentation is free and the public is welcome to attend.

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In their presentation, the students will present their study of wastewater, groundwater and surface water interactions. The capstone research project is focused on better understanding what areas of the Gallery Row sub-watershed are susceptible to wastewater and ground water interactions, whether or not concentrations of elements from wastewater have decreased since the groundwater was lowered in the sub-watershed, and the public perceptions of the risks of ground and surface water contamination from wastewater.

This program will be streamed live at https://www.youtube.com/unccsi and the online viewing audience will be able to ask the presenter questions via an online chat room. The podcast and report will be accessible via the OBXFS website (https://ie.unc.edu/education/field-sites/obx/) soon after the presentation.

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