UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Phosphorus is a crucial nutrient regularly applied to crops such as corn and soybeans to help them grow efficiently. However, excess phosphorus can be carried by rainwater runoff into lakes and streams, creating potential problems…
Fresh Water Systems Releases Video on Lead Contamination
GREENVILLE, S.C., Feb. 3, 2016—Fresh Water Systems, Inc. (FWS), one of the largest independent providers of water filtration systems in the US, has…
Interior Department Delivers Gold King Mine Technical Assessment to Environmental Protection Agency
WASHINGTON—The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation delivered a report on its Gold King Mine technical evaluation to the Environmental…
Scientists Able to Track Contaminated Water from Lower Yakima Valley Wells to Sources
TACOMA, Wash. — Scientists built upon a recently completed groundwater model of the Yakima River Basin to create a computer simulation that tracks well water back to its likely source area. The report on the model was authored by the U.S. Geological Survey…
Engineers Find Switchgrass Removes PCBs From Soils
Feb. 20, 2015—University of Iowa researchers have found a type of grass that was once a staple of the American prairie can remove soil laden with PCBs, toxic chemicals once used for cooling and other industrial purposes. The researchers report that switchgrass…
Contaminants in Groundwater Linked to Agricultural Land Use
McBEE, S.C., Nov. 11, 2014—Groundwater contamination that was first detected in Chesterfield County in the early 2000s has been linked to historical agricultural land use, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study. Scientists used water-quality…
Chloride Contamination of Wichita’s Water Supply Inevitable Unless Actions Taken
Chloride contamination of Wichita’s water-supply wells is inevitable unless actions are taken, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientists and authors of a new modeling report describing chloride movement in the area's aquifer. Possible actions include…
The Threats to Our Drinking Water
Those of us who live in the United States are fortunate; generally we don’t have to give a lot of thought to the safety of our tap water. This makes our collective experience with water very different from that of hundreds of millions of people across the…
UCLA Team Develops Smartphone-based Sensor for Detecting and Mapping Mercury
A team of researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a smartphone attachment and application to test water for the presence of mercury, a toxic heavy metal. The new platform could significantly reduce the…
Chemical Spill in West Virginia Makes Water Toxic for 300,000 West Virginians
A chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia contaminated the Elk River and the state's largest water treatment plant that supplies a nine-county area. The chemical that was spilled is 4-methylcycloheane methanol (MCHM), used in cleaning coal dust. The toxicity…
