Drinking Water Threats May Soon Be Rapidly Detected
EPA and the Dept. of Energy have collaborated to develop an improved monitoring package that utilizes inline sensors in the water network and software called CANARY.
EPA and the Dept. of Energy have collaborated to develop an improved monitoring package that utilizes inline sensors in the water network and software called CANARY.
"A new superbug from India could spread around the world -- in part because of medical tourism -- and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it."
"The virus commonly called swine flu has 'run its course,' World Health Organization Director-General said today. But while the pandemic danger is over the swine flu, or H1N1, has not gone away, it has just become more like seasonal influenzas."
"Companies with a financial interest in a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess the herbicide’s health risks, records of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show. Many of these industry-funded studies, which largely support atrazine’s safety, have never been published or subjected to an independent scientific peer review."
From GIS software company ESRI, this free tool lets users enter places where they lived for more than two years at a time, and the site provides you with a personalized "place history" pdf report and shareable maps detailing local heart attack rate and nearby toxic chemicals for each location.
After hearing for years about public concern over the adverse health and environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing used to increase production of natural gas, US EPA has begun a process (including 4 public meetings in July; CO, NY, PA, TX) to decide what the issues are and how to address them.
Wastewater treatment plants can't mitigate the problem, which is compounded by other sources of water contamination, such as drugs that end up in landfills or flushed down toilets, and metabolites or unutilized drugs that pass through people who take the drugs.
Dispersant manufacturer Nalco failed to disclose the chemical identity of the ingredients to the news media or public, and ignored a US EPA order to stop using the product in the Gulf.
A new US Geological Survey report indicates about 105 million US residents drink water from contaminated systems, often at pollutant concentrations that potentially pose a human health risk.