Center for the Study of Land, Air, and Water

Community Science Lab

The Community Science Lab, previously known as the Bard Water Lab, supports the Center for the Study of Land, Air, and Water. By initially studying only water, we discovered that we were missing key pieces of information that illustrate the interconnectedness of our natural world. The Community Science Lab allows us to meet broader community needs for natural resource protection. Our goal is to support community concerns and help build more resilient communities.

Environmental Monitoring

Water Quality Parameters + Protocols
The Community Science Lab collects and analyzes water samples for sewage-indicating bacteria, turbidity, chlorophyll a, colored dissolved organic material, phycocyanin, and optical brighteners.
- Saw Kill Monitoring Program
- Roe Jan Monitoring Program
Air Quality Egg: Real-Time Data Science
We’re using continuous monitoring technology from Air Quality Egg to establish air quality data stations around the Hudson Valley. Check out some of the data we’re collecting from these stations:
- Bard Community Science Lab
- Cary Institute Weather Station

OSUN Community Science Coalition

In addition to supporting the Center for the Study of Land, Air, and Water, the lab supports the OSUN Community Science Coalition, an international network working to bridge the gaps between climate change, academic institutions, and the equitable management of shared natural resources. The Community Science Lab will serve as the coalition's core lab facility, conducting environmental testing in response to community concerns. The data generated will be used to evaluate local climate impacts and help inform decision makers.

Learn More About CSC

We all live in a watershed.

We often take for granted our access to clean drinking water until there is an issue with it. Creating policies that protect watersheds and their corresponding water bodies is necessary but difficult to manage, due to the number of water bodies and the potential threats to them. Bottom-up decision-making at the watershed level allows communities to prioritize their goals to protect their local environment and watershed.

Community-driven Science

Working with localities to protect their environment.

We use microbiological approaches to tease out connections between watershed land use management decisions and the microbial ecology of water and air. While watershed-level science provides key baseline data and guidance for local and regional policymakers, it’s inextricably linked to atmospheric processes operating on much larger scales. Land use decisions and other resource management efforts at the watershed level can influence and be influenced by decisions made in other watersheds, regionally as well as globally.

Local Is Global

Rethinking Environment

The contemporary environmental movement has not successfully addressed the key environmental issues that humanity is faced with. Continuing to maintain the environmental status quo will not allow us to adapt in the ways we must to negotiate climate change while also addressing long-term issues including hunger, poverty, and income disparity.

Rethinking Environment
This new project will turn the ideas of environment and sustainability on their heads, to recognize and attempt to remove the racism, classism, and sexism inherent in the conceptualization and contemporary realization of these terms. Using academic and community-based knowledge, experience, and resources, we will develop terms and conceptualizations that allow for the full integration of community, shared values, and resources, to successfully address local and global issues.
Watersheds as Neighborhoods

When people hear the word “watershed” they first think simply of water. But watersheds are full ecosystems with many living beings impacting their health and vitality. This new project rethinks what neighborhood means in the context of watershed-based community efforts. Project partners include the Dutchess County Government, Riverkeeper, and the Saw Kill Watershed Community.

Legislating Change

“Although on a geologic scale our politics are small in comparison to something like ancient groundwater, they are an important piece in determining how we interact and interfere with our landscape.” —EUS major Tierney Weymueller