wastewater

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UN Watchdog to Japan: OK to Dump Wastewater in Sea

Critics aren't happy about release of radioactive water from Fukushima nuclear power plant

(Newser) - A little radioactive water in the Pacific? Not that big a deal, at least according to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, which gave the OK Tuesday for Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to dump more than a million tons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. NPR notes...

'Alarming' New Find on Polio in New York State

After emerging in Hudson Valley, virus pops up in NYC sewage, suggesting local circulation

(Newser) - Polio appears to be working its way south through New York state, now making an appearance in New York City sewage after earlier showing up in wastewater in Orange and Rockland counties, reports CNBC . That suggests the virus is now circulating locally, spreading quietly among the unvaccinated. It's an...

'Hundreds' of People in NY May Be Infected With Polio

So says state's health commissioner after virus turns up in wastewater in a 2nd county

(Newser) - News last month of an unvaccinated man in New York's Rockland County contracting polio and suffering paralysis was soon followed by reports of the virus being found in wastewater there. Now, nearby Orange County has also turned up polio in its sewage, in samples taken from two different locations...

Omicron May Have Spread Early
State Saw Omicron Signs Early
Dec 10, 2021 5:30 PM CST

State Saw Omicron Signs Early

California wastewater samples suggest variant was present before WHO's announcement

(Newser) - A finding in California supports the fear that the omicron coronavirus variant was spreading even before it was globally recognized. The state Department of Public Health said a mutation found in a wastewater sample on Nov. 25, a day before the World Health Organization announced omicron's existence, indicated the...

Researchers Say Trout Can Get Hooked on Our Meth
Meth Users May End Up
Harming an Unlikely Victim
new study
Jul 7, 2021 8:39 AM CDT

Meth Users May End Up Harming an Unlikely Victim

Fish, finds a new study

(Newser) - If you're wondering whether brown trout can become meth junkies, science has an answer for you. Czech researchers sought to determine whether the drugs used by humans—which end up in waterways because wastewater treatment plants aren't built to remove methamphetamine—could turn fish into addicts. The short...

Seoul's Wastewater Holds Unexpected Amount of Viagra

Scientists detected particularly high levels of Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors

(Newser) - Seoul may be a Viagra capital of the world, according to a new study, which found high traces of drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction in the South Korean capital's sewers. "An astonishingly large amount of Viagra was detected in wastewater," Kim Hyunook, co-author of the study...

Japan Ready to Dump Wall of Fukushima Water

China says move 'will pose serious harm' to people outside Japan

(Newser) - Japan has confirmed that more than 1.25 million tons of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant will be dumped in the Pacific Ocean . The radioactive water pumped through three damaged reactor cores to keep them from melting will be gradually released beginning in two years, according...

Fukushima Wastewater Destined for Pacific: Reports

Formal announcement is reportedly coming soon

(Newser) - Japan's government has decided to release some 1.3 million tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the ocean as speculated . That's according to local media reports published Friday. Reuters reports a formal announcement will come later this month, though Japan's industry minister Hiroshi...

Creative Testing Catches Virus Early: 'This Is How You Do It'
University Stops
Virus Outbreak
'in Its Tracks'
in case you missed it
Aug 30, 2020 10:40 AM CDT

University Stops Virus Outbreak 'in Its Tracks'

University of Arizona's testing of wastewater samples leads to 2 asymptomatic students

(Newser) - Everyone in the dorm seemed just fine. But by using a creative testing method, researchers at the University of Arizona were able to quickly determine two students in the college residence had COVID-19, fending off a larger outbreak throughout the dorm and the entire school. The Arizona Republic reports that...

Florence Killed 5.5K Pigs in NC, Spewed Manure

3.4M chickens and turkeys also perished

(Newser) - Hurricane Florence unleashed torrential rain, dangerous wind gusts, and now a new environmental hazard in North Carolina: the overflowing of its hog manure lagoons—and it's "nasty," per the New York Times . Many of North Carolina's nearly 10 million pigs are located on large-scale farms...

150K Gallons of Toxic Water Leak From Air Force Base

Colorado base isn't sure how it got out

(Newser) - Some 150,000 gallons of water contaminated by toxic firefighting chemicals were discharged from a Colorado Air Force Base into a city sewer system, and authorities can't explain why. Peterson Air Force Base has confirmed that water containing perfluorinated chemicals—PFCs—flowed through Colorado Springs Utilities wastewater treatment plant...

It Will Take Years to Deal With Leaking Colo. Mine

Wastewater spill has now reached Lake Powell

(Newser) - It will take many years and many millions of dollars simply to manage and not even remove the toxic wastewater from an abandoned mine that unleashed a 100-mile-long torrent of heavy metals into Western rivers that has likely reached Lake Powell, experts say. Plugging Colorado's Gold King Mine, which...

Toxic Water Still Leaking Into Colorado River

Other abandoned mines are now the issue, officials say

(Newser) - The wastewater spill into Colorado's Animas River isn't just more severe than the Environmental Protection Agency initially estimated: It's steadily getting worse in terms of volume, even a week after the initial incident . Between 500 and 700 gallons of metal-laced water is still spilling from the abandoned...

EPA: Wastewater Spill 3 Times Worse Than We Thought

Officials now say 3M gallons of Colo. mine wastewater spilled into Animas River

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency says a wastewater spill from an abandoned mine in southwestern Colorado into the Animas River is much larger than originally estimated. The agency said the amount of heavy-metal-laced water that leaked from the Gold King Mine into the river, turning the water a mucky orange and...

Microbes May Be Doing Something Wild in Our Sewage

Levels of certain pharmaceuticals go up after wastewater is treated

(Newser) - Drugs in our sewage are an issue of continuing concern: A few years back, researchers found that treatment plants were only getting rid of about half of them. Now, a new study suggests that the problem goes beyond a failure to eradicate the drugs: Researchers found that levels of two...

Study: Fracking Causing Oklahoma Quakes

Wastewater injection triggers quakes miles away, researchers find

(Newser) - Earthquakes in Oklahoma are up more than a hundredfold in recent years, and a new study spies a pretty clear link between the shaking and the fracking that has given the state's economy a huge boost. Researchers took a close look at four specific sites where wastewater from oil...

You're Using Antibacterial Soap Wrong

And its chemicals may be bad for you and the environment

(Newser) - Big on antibacterial soap? Sorry, but it's probably not helping you, and could even be altering your hormones and damaging the environment, a researcher says. In a new review paper , Rolf Halden argues that people get little benefit from antibacterial products because they use them incorrectly, LiveScience reports. You'...

Quiet Threat to Our Water: Dandruff Shampoo

It contains a fungicide that can hurt living things

(Newser) - Wastewater treatment plants are designed to completely eliminate a lot of awful stuff from our water. Unfortunately, fungicide doesn't fall under the "completely eliminated" header—and a new study in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry has identified the damage it's doing to our water. And if...

You're Flushing Tons of Things That You Shouldn't
You're Flushing Tons of Things That You Shouldn't
in case you missed it
Sep 28, 2013 7:53 AM CDT

You're Flushing Tons of Things That You Shouldn't

'Flushable' wipes, paper towels are major causes of sewer clogs

(Newser) - Wastewater officials across the country are trying to spread the message that you can't just flush anything down the toilet, and they're taking particular aim at wipes. Vancouver, Wash., has a campaign called "Smart Bunnies" that shows a bespectacled rabbit sitting on a toilet and the tag...

Ariz. Ski Resort Will Make Snow From ... Sewage

Native Americans, environmentalists not happy

(Newser) - This winter at Arizona's Snowbowl, the powdery white snow won't always have been so white: The ski resort will become the first ever to make its artificial snow from 100% sewage effluent. The wastewater has been treated, of course, and the US Forest Service—which owns the land—...

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