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Measuring Microbes Makes Wetland Health Monitoring More Affordable, Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostMay 15, 2013Environmentarchaea, atreyee sims, bacteria, cape may, earth, ecosystem, healthy ecosystem, kidneys, measuring microbes, microorganisms, new jersey, soil, university of missouri, wastewater, wastewater treatment, water samples, wetland health, wetland health evaluation, zhiqiang hu

Understanding microbe communities could improve wetland wastewater treatment systems

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Wetlands serve as the Earth’s kidneys. They filter and clean people’s water supplies while serving as important habitat for many species, including iconic species like cattails, cranes and alligators. Conventional ecosystem health assessments have focused on populations of these larger species. However, the tiny, unseen creatures in the wetlands provided crucial indicators of the ecosystems’ health in a study by University of Missouri Associate Professor of Engineering Zhiqiang Hu and his team. Using analysis of the microbiological health of wetlands is cheaper and faster than traditional assessments, and could lead to improvements in harnessing natural processes to filter humans’ wastewater.

“During road and building construction, engineers must sacrifice wetlands to development, but laws dictate that these lost wetlands be compensated for by establishing a wetland somewhere else,” said Hu. “Our research could be applied to both monitor the success of these compensation wetlands and guide conservationists in inoculating new engineered ecosystems with the correct types of microorganisms.” (more…)

Green-Glowing Fish Provides New Insights into Health Impacts of Pollution

By Guest PostApril 23, 2012Environmentbisphenol a, breast, change gender, charles tyler, contraceptive pharmaceutical, decrease, endocrine disrupting chemicals, environmental estrogens, ethinyloestradiol, fluorescent fish, genetic system, green fluorescent signals, humans, industrial detergents, industrial product, male fish, nonylphenol, oestrogen hormone, oestrogenic chemicals, okhyun lee, plastics, reproductive problems, river, sperm count, testicular cancer, tetsuhiro kudoh, transgenic zebrafish, ucl, university college london, university of exeter, wastewater, wildlife, zebrafish

Understanding the damage that pollution causes to both wildlife and human health is set to become much easier thanks to a new green-glowing zebrafish.

Created by a team from the University of Exeter, the fish makes it easier than ever before to see where in the body environmental chemicals act and how they affect health.

The fluorescent fish has shown that oestrogenic chemicals, which are already linked to reproductive problems, impact on more parts of the body than previously thought.

The research by the University of Exeter and UCL (University College London) is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. (more…)

Sediment Sleuthing

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2012Environmentchristopher sommerfield, coast, contaminant, delaware bay, delaware river, element, environmental science, epa, fukushima nuclear disaster, i 131, Japan, non radioactive, ocean, radiation, radioactive iodine, radioactive medicine, radioiodine, radionuclide, river, schuylkill river, sea floor, sediment, suspended particle, teresa messmore, university of delaware, wastewater

Radioactive medicine being tracked through rivers

A University of Delaware oceanographer has stumbled upon an unusual aid for studying local waterways: radioactive iodine. Trace amounts of the contaminant, which is used in medical treatments, are entering waterways via wastewater treatment systems and providing a new way to track where and how substances travel through rivers to the ocean.

“This is a really interesting convergence of medicine, public health and environmental science,” said Christopher Sommerfield, associate professor of oceanography in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. (more…)

Minorities Pay More for Water and Sewer

By Guest PostNovember 29, 2011Culture, Environment, Generalbirmingham, bygone economic era, cleveland, detroit, environmental practice, michigan state university, pittsburgh, poster child, product of racism, rachel butts, racial minorities, sewer infrastructure, shrinking cities, st. louis, stephen gasteyer, structural inequality, wastewater, water and sewer

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Racial minorities pay systemically more for basic water and sewer services than white people, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers.

This “structural inequality” is not necessarily a product of racism, argues sociologist Stephen Gasteyer, but rather the result of whites fleeing urban areas and leaving minority residents to bear the costs of maintaining aging water and sewer infrastructure. (more…)

Tag Archives: wastewater

Measuring Microbes Makes Wetland Health Monitoring More Affordable, Says MU Researcher

Green-Glowing Fish Provides New Insights into Health Impacts of Pollution

Sediment Sleuthing

Minorities Pay More for Water and Sewer