Contaminated Groundwater = Hungry Microbes?
On January 27th, 2020, our AP Environmental Science class hosted guest speaker Kent Armstrong. Throughout his lecture, we learned about bio stimulation, the manipulation of microbes by the insertion of additives, and the formation of biofilm around bacteria-ridden objects. Armstrong’s job is cleaning up toxins that are found underground. To start off his presentation, Kent went right into telling the class a little bit of background information about himself.
Kent Armstrong moved around a lot when he was a child. A shocking fact about him is that he actually hated science his entire life! “I thought I was going to end up being a minister, and I ended up taking a botany course because I had to, I figured how hard could that be? They don’t bleed, they don’t run, they don’t scream, it’s gotta be pretty easy. I fell in love with it, transferred to Long Beach, ended up getting a bachelors in zoology, I dug up dinosaurs in Colorado to get my graduate work, taught anatomy and physiology, [and I’ve been in the industry for about 45 years.” (Armstrong). Armstrong made it very clear that toxic waste cleanup may very well have been the furthest occupation from his mind when he thought about what he wanted to do when he grew up.
The basis of what Kent Armstrong spoke about during his lecture to the class was how underground toxins are cleaned up. Armstrong has worked on many toxic waste sites along the east coast with his company, Terra Stryke, including cases local to Andover. The point of Armstrong’s work is to “leverage what Mother Nature already does” “we try not to dig things up, because we try to minimize our impact as much as we can” (Armstrong). Armstrong then goes on to explain the process of bio stimulation. Bio stimulation is “the modification of the environment to stimulate existing bacteria” (Keynote Presentation), making it capable of bioremediation. This process is done by inserting additives that give nutrients to existing microbes in ground water. With the given nutrients, the microbes can then utilize the toxins for energy.
(Photo by Kent Armstrong’s Keynote presentation)
A minor topic that Armstrong talked about was the formation of biofilm. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to completely cover the topic, so I went back to his presentation to teach myself a little more about biofilm. Biofilm is created to protect the thing that the film is around from things that can cause physical harm such as bacteria. To go along with keeping the bad stuff out, it also works to keep the good stuff in! Biofilm preserves organic as well as inorganic nutrients, and also works “as an energy/hydrogen sink after the additive is depleted” (Keynote Presentation)` 
(Photo by Kent Armstrong’s Keynote presentation)
In his presentation, Kent Armstrong focuses on 20,000 gallon gas tanks underneath gas station pumps that sometimes rupture and seep into groundwater. When it comes to groundwater, it is very crucial that it stays clean because neighboring houses and businesses could end up with contaminated drinking/bathing water. Toxic waste clean up is very important too any community, and Armstrong’s way of cleaning up, in my opinion, is the best way out there. I am fascinated with how non-invasive his technique is, and how productive it can be without disrupting nature’s natural cycles.
I had a lot of fun listening to Kent Armstrong’s presentation, but I was skeptical at first. I am the type of person who likes to watch documentaries and films and presentations on topics that I find fascinating. However, since I did not know enough about toxic waste cleanup, I was expecting the presentation to be unsatisfactory. I was very wrong. Armstrong’s presentation was fascinating, interactive, productive, and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during that class, and I wish that we had more classes that involve outside people coming in and giving lectures on what we are learning from the perspective of someone who works in that specific field.
After Armstrong’s presentation, I went home that night and looked up his company. I am glad that this class opened up my eyes to new ideas and the knowledge that “new” is important, and not to judge a topic based on premeditated opinions. The pictures and the graphs that are in Kent Armstrong’s Keynote presentation were very helpful during this class as well, showing us diagrams of the different levels of contamination, the cycle of contaminated ground water, and maps of clean up sites. Overall, this presentation was very educational and left me wanting to learn even more.
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