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Volume 54, Issue 63 | friday, january 17, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Project tests South Bend well water SMC department of chemistry and physics leads effort to detect exposure to dangerous metals By MARIROSE OSBORNE News Writer
Although water is one of the most abundant resources in the world, it exists on a wide spectrum of drinkability. Bottled water tends to be the safest option, while river and lake water should be considered non-potable. However, well water falls into a gray area. At times it can be consumed safely, but it can also potentially contain dangerous heavy metals. City water is tested regularly, but testing for well water is completed much less frequently, as it must be done at the homeowner’s expense, according to a flyer distributed by the Saint Mary’s department of
chemistry and physics. This means heavy metals, such as arsenic, can build up in the water, and according to the flyer, “long term exposure can pose a significant health risk.” The water-testing project began about two years ago as a community research study aimed towards educating the public on how to test their well water. “Community research is a little challenging, because the pathway to getting a project is less obvious than with more traditional science research,” Kimberly Cossey, chemistry professor and head of the project, said in an email. Cossey said she began at the local level of community
Walk the Walk Week celebrates MLK Day By RENEE PIERSON News Writer
Notre Dame’s annual Walk the Walk Week, an event week honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day and aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion on campus, will commence Monday. Civil rights leader Diane Nash will deliver the keynote address of Walk the Walk Week’s flagship event, the MLK Celebration Luncheon. The week will also include lectures, discussions and religious services, among other events. Ann Firth, vice president and chief of staff, held a leading role programming the events. “The week commences with a late-night candlelight prayer service in the Main Building Rotunda on the eve of MLK Day, which has become a cherished tradition on our campus,” Firth said in an email. Student body president Elizabeth Boyle emphasized the inaugural event’s intention to unify the campus. “The candlelight prayer service will take place at 11 p.m.,
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beginning in the Main Building where the Notre Dame community will come together, led by campus leaders and Voices of Faith, to join in song and prayer to commemorate the life of Dr. King,” she said in an email. Students can find more information about the prayer service on its Facebook event page. “There are a wide array of events planned for rest of Walk the Walk Week, designed to offer each of us the opportunity to consider how we — both individually and collectively — might take a more active role in making Notre Dame even more welcoming and inclusive,” Firth said in the email. Students and faculty are invited to attend all of the events taking place. “Let’s Talk About Race,” an open conversation about identity, will take place Monday in 7 p.m. Geddes Hall. The Social Concerns Fair, which begins 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Dahnke Ballroom, will allow students to explore a variety of local volunteer see WALK PAGE 3
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engagement. “The first step of any community research is meeting people and networking, so that you know what is needed,” Cossey said in the email. Then, the group had to map out the exact procedure the department would use to test the well water. “The next step was to determine the methods that we would use for the science part of the project,” she said in the email. “I decided to use ICP-OES (an instrument used to test water samples), which [test] not only arsenic but also other heavy metals, even in low concentrations. Thus, we could test for multiple potential contaminants
at once, and give residents the results.” Cossey and a student collaborator, senior chemistry major Katelyn Long, have begun a pilot study where students will be able to test and send in the results from their water. This process is fairly simple, Cossey said. “We give residents a kit that has water bottles, and instructions on how to collect their water,” she said in the email. “They run the tap for a few minutes, and then collect the water into the water bottle. Residents can test multiple locations in their home, as water is not the same from every tap (due to things like water softeners, RO
[reverse-osmosis] filters, etc.)” Next, Cossey will test the water with Long. “They bring the samples back to Saint Mary’s, and we treat the samples with chemicals,” she said in the email. “This is necessary for testing, and also makes sure that the samples stay ‘useable’ until we can test them.” The next steps for the project involve collecting, calibrating and distributing data from the project. “The primary goal is to decrease health risks in the community by letting people know what’s in their drinking water,” Cossey said in the email. “We don’t want anyone to be see WELL PAGE 4
Professor explains iconic Hesburgh-King photo
University President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh links arms with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as they sing “We Shall Overcome” during the 1964 Illinois Rally for Civil Rights at Soldier Field in Chicago. By TOM NAATZ Notre Dame News Editor
In June 1964, University President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh was sitting at his desk when he received a phone call. The civil rights movement was in full swing, and the Catholic priest’s services were needed at a rally in Chicago. According to a report from Notre Dame Magazine, then-Chicago mayor Richard Daley and a series of officials from the Catholic Church had all declined to attend. “Hesburgh received a call at his
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office in the Main Building that he was needed to speak at the civil rights rally in Chicago,” Robert Schmuhl, an American Studies professor who has written a book about Hesburgh, said in an email. “Without hesitating, he decided to go, and his only question was to ask what time he had to arrive to participate.” On June 21, 1964, Hesburgh took the stage at the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights at Chicago’s Soldier Field, according to a Notre Dame Archives webpage on Hesburgh’s life. Per the webpage, anywhere between 57,000
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and 75,000 people attended the event. The rally took place at a tense moment in the civil rights movement: the same day the rally took place, three young activists were murdered in Mississippi while participating in “Freedom Summer,” an effort to register African American voters, according to the archives. While at the rally, Hesburgh joined hands with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was also present at the rally. The result was the now-instantly recognizable see MLK PAGE 4
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