environmental science research for everyone
April marks the five-year anniversary of the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan. For the past five years, the United States has watched the repercussions of polluted drinking water wreak havoc on the City of Flint. What have scientists learned since then? Read on for an abridged understanding of the crisis and learn how one researcher is utilizing the data for good.
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Clean, safe drinking water is a basic human need. However, for many areas around the globe, freshwater is becoming scarce. Desalination is increasingly used to provide drinking water in some coastal regions, but the waste products – brine and antiscalants – are discharged back into the ocean with unknown consequences. A recent study by Karen Lykkebo Petersen (University of California Santa Cruz) and colleagues sought to simulate happens to coral reefs as they are increasingly exposed to desalination discharge.
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Some homes treat waste onsite using what is called a septic system. These systems release treated water (effluent) into the ground where it eventually combines with natural groundwater. Septic effluent is a concern because it could contaminate groundwater that is used as drinking water. As a result, researchers have been searching for ways to track septic effluent in groundwater. The scientists in this study examined whether artificial sweeteners could do the trick.
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