Tag Archives: wastewater

Tempe, ASU Team Up to Map Drugs in Wastewater

Everything – drugs included – sooner or later travels the sewers.

So Tempe and ASU plan to study wastewater as part of a public health effort to identify substance abuse hotspots and evaluate efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Tempe Partners With ASU to Detect Drugs in Wastewater

Endocrine Pollutants Spike in U.S. Rivers During Low-Flow Periods

The Santa Cruz River just north of Sahuarita, Arizona. Photo by $1LENCE D00600D.

The pipeline leak that spilled sewage into Arizona’s Santa Cruz River is sealed, but another pollution problem persists — one many other American waterways share.

Contaminants of emerging concern, or CECs, are chemicals from drugs and personal care products that most wastewater treatment plants don’t filter out. Some, including estrogenic compounds from products like synthetic birth control, disrupt the hormones of aquatic wildlife, harming reproduction.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
U.S. Streams Like Santa Cruz River See High Endocrine Pollutant Concentrations During Low-Flow

Behind the Scenes at a Nuclear Generating Station Refueling

Every six months, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station southwest of Phoenix, Arizona shuts down one of its three reactors for refueling and maintenance.

Join me in this feature-length venture into the belly of the beast, from the storage casks to the open reactor itself.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
http://science.kjzz.org/node/472070

Spotting Fracking and Pumping Effects from Space

2011-2014 Hydraulic Fracturing Water Use (square meters/well)
Map by U. S. Geological Survey.

Using a technique called satellite radar interferometry, researchers have spotted millimeter-scale ground uplift surrounding four high-pressure injection wells near the eastern Texas city of Timpson. Two of the wells were located directly above a spate of record quakes that struck Timpson in 2012, topping out with a 4.8 magnitude quake on May 17. The other two were located within six miles of the quakes.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Researcher: Satellite Radar Links Wastewater Pumping To Earthquakes