Sally Entrekin - Mexico

What I Did

I spent 14 days in Guadalajara, Mexico working with scientists at the Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara (ITESO). My activities were split between team-teaching a course in hydrology, bioassessment and environmental ethics with David Rizo-Decelis and William Quinn.  Our goal was to understand the role of headwater streams in supporting biological diversity and hydrologic dilution to the polluted mainstem Santiago River and assess the community’s perception of role of the headwaters.  Students in our class learned how to formulate testable research questions, collect appropriate hydrologic, chemical and biological data and synthesize that data for presentation. The course ended with a campus-wide symposium that tackled the problem of water quality in central Mexico. 

Dr. Rizo and I also collected additional chemical and biological data in the headwaters and mainstem of the Santiago River watershed, scouted studied sites in surrounding headwater streams and outlined our proposal for expanded research. The river and associated tributaries quality are affected by common human activities and the basin serves as a primary source of drinking water for people in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and the cities and towns in between. Our data will contribute to the existing geospatial database that has been developed in the basin to predict hydrochemical and microbiological parameters on the main-stem of the river that will be used by decision-makers.

In addition to sampling headwaters, I was also able to sample Lake Chapala (the countries largest lake) ground and lake water in indigenous communities for arsenic, where it has been identified as a possible health risk. Our data was shared with a host of environmental non-profit groups and residents because of their immediate concern that children are drinking water with elevated arsenic.

Short-term accomplishments and long-term goals

Short-term product from my summer research and teaching:

•  Trained 8 students and 3 faculty in aquatic insect identification and bioassessment
• Established permissions/contact for 4 study sites in the Santiago River Basin
• Sampled water chemistry and identified macroinvertebrates from 4 study sites that will be analyzed and used towards a PADI proposal in collaboration with Dr. Rizo.

My long-term goals are to (1) establish a multi-discipline research program that characterizes headwater quality and freshwater invertebrate diversity that contributes to restoration of water quality and biological diversity in the Santiago River watershed; (2) develop a recurring study abroad course that takes Virginia Tech students to ITESO to collaborate with Mexican students and the community to address water quality solutions for the Santiago River Watershed.