Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Hood College to Help National Park Service Fight Harmful Algae in Washington, DC

  • 12/11/19

FREDERICK, MD – Hood College’s Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies has been awarded a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to research methods of mitigating cyanobacteria blooms in the constructed lake at Constitution Gardens, a large catchment in Washington, DC.

Potentially toxic cyanobacteria grew in high concentrations in the lake in summer 2018, and the lake has experienced other toxin-producing blooms in the past that have killed fish and produced noxious odors. Nutrients and defecation from wildlife are among the substances that enter the lake via runoff from precipitation events. That, combined with stagnant water and summer heating, create an optimal habitat for these cyanobacteria.

Hood College staff will help decide which treatment(s) is best for this lake. After a treatment is deployed, Hood will monitor water quality and algae and cyanobacteria growth at multiple locations in the lake monthly during the growing season from April through October and every other month from November through March.

Drew Ferrier, director of Hood College’s Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies, says, “We look forward to working with the National Park Service to find ways of controlling harmful and unsightly algal blooms in this beautiful garden.”

About Hood College
Hood College is an independent liberal arts college, offering 28 bachelor’s degrees, four pre-professional programs, 19 master’s degrees programs, two doctorates and 10 post-baccalaureate certificates. Located in historic Frederick, near Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the I-270 technology corridor, Hood gives students access to countless internships and research opportunities.

Featured

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • ZeroEyes, Academic Innovators Partner to Provide Safety Solutions

    ZeroEyes, which produces a multi-analytics weapons detection and threat intelligence platform, recently announced a partnership with Academic Innovators, according to a news release.