Rice Univ, ASU, Yale Univ and UTEP have been awarded $18.5M to discover breakthroughs using nanotechnology to address the water quality challenges.  Read the announcement from NSF

http://wnpr.org/post/were-having-poo-party We’re Having a Poo Party! By BETSY KAPLAN • AUG 12, 2015  SHARETwitter Facebook Google+ Email BÖRKUR SIGURBJÖRNSSON CREATIVE COMMONS Listen Listening… 49:15 Today, our show about poo. First, the ‘no-poo‘ movement. Before the last century, people washed their hair a lot less often than we do today. A little Castille soap, an egg yoke for extra shine, and one hundred strokes…

Scientist Strikes Gold… in Poop Posted at: http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/07/28/gold-particles-sewage/ Published Tue, Jul 28, 2015  |  Samantha Solomon, Editor-in-Chief, Commodities Share on facebook  Share   It might make you do a double take, but it’s true. Paul Westerhoff, a professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment at Arizona State University (ASU), unexpectedly discovered a buildup of…

Methadone Linked to NDMA Contamination in Drinking Water http://www.chromatographyonline.com/methadone-linked-ndma-contamination-drinking-water?rel=canonical  Jun 19, 2015 By Bethany Degg The Column Volume 11, Issue 11 Photo Credit: LEONELLO CALVETTI/Getty ImagesMethadone, a drug prescribed for managing the symptoms of heroin withdrawal and chronic pain, has been linked to the formation of the carcinogenic compound N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in drinking water.1 Understanding which compounds contribute…

  Scientists trace cancer-causing chemical in drinking water back to methadone This is collaborative research between ASU (Hanigan, Zhang, Herckes & Westerhoff, Univ of Colorado (Thurman & Ferrer) and University of Toronto (Andrews & Zhao).  It was also briefly mentioned during the 53rd minute of the PBS Newshour show BY NSIKAN AKPAN  May 27, 2015 at 11:02…

  Heroin Analog May Form Carcinogen In Drinking Water Environmental Chemistry: Methadone in surface water reacts with drinking water disinfectants to form potent carcinogen By Janet Pelley Drinking water disinfectants such as chlorine have put a virtual end to waterborne disease in developed nations but have spawned a new problem: They produce carcinogenic disinfection by-products….

Posted: 4/2/2015 at http://www.bestfoodfacts.org/food-for-thought/titanium-dioxide-maynard  We’ve seen the headlines about an ingredient with a part metal-, part chemical-sounding name: titanium dioxide. Food companies are responding to consumer inquiries about the use of the ingredient, and some companies are even taking steps to remove the ingredient from some products. We wondered…what exactly is titanium dioxide? Is it dangerous? Should we be…

BYU Radio: Top of Mind with Julie Rose: Precious Metals (1:26:59) Guest: Paul Westerhoff, environmental engineering professor at Arizona State University We have treasure in a most unlikely place. Researchers have found significant amounts of precious metals in sewage sludge. They say that the valuable metals in bio solids may be worth up to $13-Million per…

Our recent journal paper in ES&T entitled Characterization, Recovery Opportunities, and Valuation of Metals in Municipal Sludges from U.S. Wastewater Treatment Plants Nationwide (Westerhoff Lee, Yang, Gordon, Hristovski, Halden and Herckes, 2015) has been picked up by numerous news media and even the Canadian Broadcasting System. Sewage sludge could contain millions of dollars worth of gold…

http://fullcircle.asu.edu/review/research/engineering-doctoral-students-water-research-earns-epa-support/ BY  JOE KULLMAN – AUGUST 13, 2014POSTED IN: RESEARCH, STUDENTS Mac Gifford had a solid start going on an engineering career when he decided to go back to school full time. After earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Arizona, he worked for almost five years as a water resources project designer with…