Tackling Contamination in Ghana

In an effort to raise awareness about dangerous levels of nitrates that are making their way from pineapple fields into the water supplies of villagers in the West African nation of Ghana, CEE Professor Fred Boadu enlisted Pratt undergraduate Natalia Rossiter-Thornton, a senior CEE major, to spend three weeks in Ghana last summer. Nitrates can lead to the death of infants and cause cancer in adults. They traveled to two villages informing people about the contamination of their water supply and gathering information about their farming practices. Boadu uncovered the problem while mapping the geology in Ghana, his home country.