Tuesday's trip to a regulated smelter (and the beach)

By request and out of respect, I cannot post any pictures from yesterday's smelter audit.  I am also unable to comment on the location of the smelter or its operations.  Makes for a pretty boring blog entry...

Lead ranges in and around the facility ranged from below detectable limits to upwards of 5% in soil.  The slag and detritus by the slag maxed out the XRF.  These results were not surprising.

At the end of the day, we had time to visit Marina Beach to observe  some active Holocene sedimentation. The beach consisted of Quartz sand sourced from the Himalayas with a fair amount of heavy minerals still present. This was also the first time EC and I were exposed to India's impoverished community.

Team meetings with Anna University and TNPCB



We spent Sunday recovering from our jetlag.



Today (Monday) was our first work day.  We spent the day touring the laboratories at Anna University in Chennai, presenting the project to various groups at th University and TNPCB (Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. Think: NYS DEC), demonstrating the use of the XRF and GPS, and we even found some time at the end of the day to go shopping.

Environmental Science Masters and PhD students testing the XRF on University soil.

TNPCB meeting

PJC found a lead containing item (brass) in the conference room of the TNPCB to help with the XRF demonstration

Maybe we should get these signs in NYC?

How amazing are all these colors at the cloth store in Chennai?

Tomorrow we will begin touring and take some initial samples at formal ULAB facilities in Tamil Nadu.

We have arrived!

After a long day of traveling, we arrived in Chennai last night and got to the hotel at around 2:00 am.  There is a 10.5 hours time difference between NYC and Chennai so I think that means we got here around 3:30 pm eastern time.
The airport and the roads were not nearly as choatic as I anticipated they would be.  PJC and EC were able to spot me right after I cleared customs despite the crowds.  When we were about to leave,  PJC had to have his luggage rechecked because the GPS in his suitcase looked suspicious however, the XRF made it out of the airport just fine. 
The taxi drivers here remind me exactly of the ones in Manhattan.  We did need to turn around to get off a one way exit ramp from the highway against stopped traffic.  I guess you don't see that happen in NYC.
We are planning on taking the rest of the day easy as we all continue to adjust to the time change.  I slept great last night but I am still exhausted! Then this evening, we will be meeting up with our partners from the Blacksmith Institute for dinner.
We get to work tomorrow morning with the rest of the team.

5 days until I leave for India!

I am leaving for India on Friday!  I am fortunate enough to be tagging along with PJC to help identify, assess, and initiate clean up of lead-acid battery sites in Chennai.  I am really excited for the trip.  I have always been fond of lead since my days working with U and Th (Pb is the stable daughter of these decay series) and  it has a been a couple of years since I have done any environmental field work.  I am really looking forward to the experience.

I leave for India the night after Thanksgiving.  I can't believe how much school work I still have to finish before I leave.  I haven't had too much time to worry about packing or the logistics of the 20+ hours of traveling yet. However, I was able to find time to make an appointment with a travel medicine specialist at NYPH/CUMC about 3 weeks ago to get all my vaccines.  They gave me Typhoid, Hepatitis B, and a Polio booster.  I had received Tdap and the flu shot at the end of the summer from my employer.  The doctor gave me some antibiotics to take along should I get sick while I am traveling and on Wednesday I will start taking my malaria pills.

To learn more about why this work is important from the Blacksmith Institute (PJC's partner institution) click here.