The Senior Environmental Corps, which is affiliated with Center in the Park in Germantown, has spearheaded creek preservation efforts in the Northwest

by AMY BRISSON

A group of six senior citizens showed up at the corner of Cresheim Valley Drive and Germantown Avenue last Thursday afternoon armed with chemicals, fishing poles, clipboards and test tubes.

They were members of the Center in the Park Senior Environmental Corps, and their mission was to test the waters of Cresheim Creek for abnormalities of any kind, including the pH, bacteria content, sulfate levels, and other indicators of water health.

The all-volunteer group immediately set to work with energy and enthusiasm. They took samples from different parts of the creek, noting the temperature of the water and air, which naturally affects the chemical content of the water. The samples were quickly distributed among the group and they began systematically testing and re-testing for all health indicators. Other samples were saved for bacteria testing in the labs at Chestnut Hill College.

If an advocacy organization decides, in the future, that they need to bring a complaint to the City Water Department about the health of Cresheim Creek, the EPA approved testing that this group conducts regularly may prove invaluable.

“We provide data for advocacy,” said Johnnie Henderson, one of the group’s organizers. “No agency pays for this. There are volunteer groups all over Pennsylvania and other states who test for water quality.”

One of the volunteers, Amit Dahiya Badshah, a poet and current resident of West Tulpehocken, carefully poured creek water into a sanitized vial and mixed it with a soluble powder that clouded the water. He then used a specially prepared dipstick to measure the clouding and to give a sulfate reading of 80 mg/L: quite normal. A higher level of sulfate may have indicated some sort of spill into the creek, and possible damage to animal and plant life.

If they had found any abnormalities, the group would report them to the City Water Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Last year the Corps discovered the leakage of sewage into the Monoshone Creek, and alerted the Monoshone Watershed Association to the problem. The city has now spent over a million dollars trying to clean up and fix the bad piping.

This success has encouraged the group and reinforced their dedication to improving the local environment.

“The environment is coming under a lot of stress,” said Badshah. “[The Senior Environment Corps] is one of the best chances to give something back.”

The achievements and energy of the organization has attracted greater attention through the prize-winning documentary, Knee Deep, which chronicled the group’s seasonal activities as well as the discovery at Monoshone last year.

“It’s an excellent movie, and very educational,” said group member David Schogel. “It shows what a group of senior citizens can do to help maintain the safety of our drinking water.”

The 32 volunteers who make up the Senior Environmental Corps come from a diversity of backgrounds, but many are former schoolteachers, and teaching young people is one of their major goals.

“We do a lot of talking to students because they are the ones we count on to improve things in the future,” explained Henderson. Not only do they talk to students, but the Environment Corps have helped kids at Ivy Leaf, a Germantown School, design and plant a “living laboratory” of native Pennsylvania plants.

Right now the group is following a routine schedule of testing, but they are also writing grant proposals for more ambitious projects in the future, most notably a restoration plan for Monoshone Creek at RittenhouseTown. The project would include replanting around the banks to stabilize the soil, slowing water erosion, and eliminating invasive species. Eventually a similar project could be in store for Cresheim Creek as well, provided that the funding is available.

But the environment is not the only thing that benefits from the group’s activities. The members themselves find the work a rewarding and fun way to stay active and make like-minded friends.

“We are a group of seniors who are environmentally aware and conscious,” explained Henderson. “We are also activists. We want to do something about it, not just complain.