Aren Arakelian, Akiva Richman, Carol Guachichulca
As people who love the outdoors, it is important to us that the drinking water quality in New York City is optimal so that we can stay healthy and hydrated. For our project, we wanted to see if New York City has been effectively reducing the nitrate contaminant concentration levels in the drinking water of all five boroughs since the beginning of the century. While nitrate concentrations are below the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) and New York City water is safe to drink, the levels of nitrate in our drinking water have been fluctuating, potentially due to seasonal changes. We hope that monitoring nitrate concentrations will encourage awareness to reduce the nitrate levels that we consume.
christopherneske
December 6, 2021 — 1:21 pm
I found this poster very interesting. I too am concerned about nitrates entering our food and water systems, so it was nice to see this study focussing on the nitrate level in our city’s drinking water. Although, on the one hand, you found no decrease in levels over the past twenty years, it was extremely heartening to see that in no point during that same period are we seeing a net increase nor the levels rising close to the MCLG.
As most of our drinking water comes down from the Catskills, it would be interesting to see how the levels of nitrates in the five boroughs compares to the nitrate levels at the source. That might help us understand wether the current nitrate levels are a result of our city’s systems or if it is predominately an issue higher up the chain, that would definitely help us to maintain the levels going forward.