The DuPage County Department of Stormwater Management recently awarded Benedictine University (BenU) a Water Quality Improvement Program (WQIP) grant. BenU Lecturer Bill Schubert was instrumental in the process. A long-time adjunct faculty member for both the Engineering Program and Biological Sciences, Schubert has been leading a group of engineering students on projects aimed at reducing phosphorus that is discharged via stormwater runoff on the Lisle campus in collaboration with Leigh Anne Harden, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences.
Such runoff has detrimental effects on the ecological health of Lake St. Benedict and the larger East Branch of the DuPage River Watershed. The projects include retrofit of detention ponds on campus to act as wet ponds, installing a nutrient deactivation system in Lake St. Benedict, and installing a goose deterrent system to minimize the amount of phosphorus-bearing animal waste that enters the lake.
The County WQIP grant will allow offset of up to $6,065 incurred by the University in making these improvements. Congratulations to Mr. Schubert and the BenU engineering students for securing a grant that will positively impact the environmental health of the University!
The attached photos show the students currently working on the project: Ernesto Carlton, Rachel Cepolski, Alexander Corbett – photo by poster; Mohammed Hussain, Michael Nawas, Rema Qazi – photo by Lake St. Benedict. Also standing with the students near Lake St. Benedict is Chris Cartwright of Kasco Marine, who has been kindly assisting in testing of Kasco Marine aeration and mixing equipment at no cost to the University
