Huron to Erie Alliance for Research and Training (HEART) Field Station Improvements for Urban Watershed Research and Education

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The Huron to Erie Alliance for Research and Training (HEART) Field Stations are unique in their access to both natural and built water resources in the urban environment, including natural ecosystems and water infrastructure that supports over 4 million people in Southeast Michigan. Located at Belle Isle, Lake St. Clair Metropark, and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Water Works Park (WWP) drinking water treatment plant, the HEART field stations provide access to state-of-the-art research laboratory facilities and unique native and restored Great Lakes coastal ecosystems and green/blue infrastructure, as well as major shipping networks, world-class tourism and fisheries resources and an international border crossing. The frontiers of knowledge on the sustainability of water infrastructure and the maintenance of water quality for human and ecological welfare will be advanced through new studies using the proposed equipment and facility improvements. These studies will directly impact metropolitan Detroit and the Great Lakes region and will also serve the national purpose by providing innovative education and training on a broad variety of urban water resources topics at all levels of study (K-12, community college, undergraduate, graduate and post-doc). The research and education approaches used by HEART are designed to secure a technologically-advanced future workforce knowledgeable and experienced in urban watershed issues and study methods, and instilled with values about the stewardship of urban freshwater resources. The proposed equipment will enhance HEART's ability to positively impact the economic competitiveness of the shipping and fisheries industries, as well as the sustainability and affordability of drinking water systems. Established partnerships with urban public schools and community institutions will enable improvements in the research, education and training at the HEART field stations to provide greater access to advanced Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM) resources and skills for underrepresented minorities. The field stations are places where researchers from diverse institutions and academic disciplines interact, and each facility provides a venue for tours and conferences that connect collaborators nationally and internationally around urban water science.The addition of the proposed equipment at HEART will advance knowledge of fisheries and restoration science through environmental DNA detection using PCR-based techniques, developing new methods for assessing the effectiveness of habitat restoration and the risk of invasive species transport via ship ballast water. Equipment to support advancement of automated methods for rapid molecular aquatic ecology analysis will bring this promising new field closer to marketability and broad application for the public good. Experimental manipulation of the 5,000 square foot replica drinking water treatment system at WWP and evaluation of physiological organism responses will provide new insights on treatment process effectiveness for contaminants of emerging concern. The equipment will support hands-on student water science, aquatic molecular and microbial analysis, identification of invasive species, fisheries experiments, drinking water treatment technology investigations and water quality studies in the critical Great Lakes waterway from Lake Huron to Lake Erie. Communications technology will expand the capacity of the HEART Field Stations to collect and integrate data and enable scientists to engage and empower the public in creating a sustainable urban environment based on sound science. For more information visit the HEART website at http://www.heartfreshwatercenter.org/.