Taxonomy term

wastewater

Sea-level rise could cut off wastewater service to millions in U.S.

Scientists report in a recent study that with just 30 centimeters of sea-level rise, roughly 4 million people in the U.S. could lose access to municipal wastewater services — services that allow three-quarters of America to run the tap and flush the toilet. And with even higher seas, the number goes up.

21 Jun 2018

Airport earthquakes continued after injection ended

Since Oct. 31, 2008, when seismic activity was first detected, hundreds of earthquakes smaller than magnitude 3.4 have peppered a fault zone that partly underlies the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in north-central Texas. After the quakes were linked to the subsurface disposal of wastewater fluids from oil and gas operations in wells located within a kilometer of the initial quakes, wastewater injections into those wells were halted in August 2009. 

31 May 2018

Pharmaceuticals in urban sediments reveal wastewater treatment effectiveness

People take pills to relieve headaches or syrups to ease a hacking cough, and eventually these medications can make their way into streams and rivers around the world as humans excrete the chemicals. Scientists are now using concentrations of common pharmaceutical products (PPs) in river sediments in Orléans, France, to determine how effective four water treatment plants have been at removing chemicals from the environment.

03 Nov 2017

D.C. wastewater no longer going to waste

D.C. Water & Sewer Authority, which treats sewage from Washington, D.C., as well as from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs ringing the city, is the biggest consumer of electricity in the U.S. capital. But last September, D.C. Water began creating its own power, becoming the first utility in the country to convert sewage into electricity.
 
03 Feb 2016

Treated water that's too pure lets arsenic sneak in

With California’s water resources dwindling to alarmingly low levels, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) has pioneered a high-tech approach for recycling wastewater into potable tap water instead of discharging it into the ocean. The purification process is so thorough, however, that it might actually make the water too clean: In a new study, researchers have found that the ultra-purified water is vulnerable to contamination by naturally occurring arsenic in underground storage aquifers.
 
03 Jan 2016