Texas Town Seeks Savvy Scientist: WANTED Notice Leads to a Match

 

The following is an article pulished recently about the City of Kennedale’s efforts to solve some of the water quality issues presented Village Creek without having to expend large amounts of money to obtain expert advice. {{more:[read article]}}

 

by Ben Young Landis

 

Ben Young Landis is a freelance science communicator and a contributing writer for Creative Science Writing and the Thriving Earth Exchange.

?Where Everybody Is Somebody? reads the local high school?s motto in Kennedale, Texas, a cozy community of some 8,000 residents. Recently the town sought a new somebody ? somebody with serious environmental science chops, a knack for navigating water quality regulations and a passion for solving project management puzzles.

With a ?help wanted? notice and matchmaking support from the Thriving Earth Exchange of the American Geophysical Union, Kennedale found the expertise it needed to step up to one of its most persistent problems: a complex brew of pollution, drinking water and floods.

A Creek Runs Through It …

Kennedale is both an integral part of the greater Fort Worth and a world unto itself. A ?Bark in the Park? event for families and dogs and a fundraising concert with Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley impersonators dotted the city calendar one recent month. Residents enjoy the relaxed rhythms of a small town while the wattage of the 7-million-person Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan hub glows nearby.

The city straddles a segment of Village Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River watershed ? which eventually pours into the Gulf of Mexico more than 270 miles (430 km) away. While the river brings natural beauty and recreational opportunities, Hart says over the past decade water quality and flood control issues have bubbled to the surface.

?When people come out and look at Village Creek, they?re struck by the quality of the natural habitat here, particularly for an urban area,? says Hart. ?Locals go fishing, kayaking ? you can kayak all the way to Lake Arlington, actually.?

Lake Arlington, a 42,600 acre-feet reservoir partially supplied by Village Creek, serves as the drinking water supply for more than 500,000 people. Managing the health of this interconnected resource has been a focus for regional partners ? the City of Fort Worth, the City of Arlington, the University of Texas at Arlington, the Trinity River Authority, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Both Mayor Brian Johnson and City Manager Bob Hart have sought out scientists via TEX to help with Kennedale?s water quality questions.

Searching for the Systems-Savvy Scientist …

?What we really need is someone who has the breadth of understanding of the environmental laws and government regulations we have to resolve, and the political limitations for different solutions,? says Hart, an active member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). It was through his service on the ICMA Sustainable Communities committee that Hart learned about the ?Scientist Wanted? platform of the Thriving Earth Exchange.

?The science is a big component, but understanding the legalities and the state and federal regulatory environment are huge component,? says Hart. ?So if you look at it from a systems perspective, what we?re looking for is someone to pull all three parts together.?

Alexander Sun, Research Scientist, University of Texas

As a result of the TEX announcement, the city recently found their match in Alexander Sun, Ph.D., a research scientist for the Bureau of Economic Geology and the University of Texas at Austin. With degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering, he?s expert at analyzing water flows and identifying the sources of contaminants. But perhaps more importantly, he?s devoted to leveraging scientific research to support on-the-ground, practical decisions about environmental challenges and water resource management ? just the sort of decisions Bob Hart must make every day.

?As a professional city manager, I?m fascinated by the challenges presented by this hugely complex project,? says Hart, in his sincere, Texas drawl. ?And at a personal level, I?m dedicated to protecting and restoring Village Creek. I understand how significant this project will be, not only to our community, but to the region as a whole.”