Illinois State Water Survey

blog posts

• Dealing with Elevated Arsenic Levels

  Oct 7, 2011 9:30 am

  Tom Holm and I presented the results from our study of arsenic in groundwater in the Tolono area at a public meeting this past Tuesday (October 4). The crowd was small but very interested in the topic, and asked a lot of good questions. In this post I thought Id post some of what Tom talked about regarding options for dealing with elevated arsenic in well water.

• The Second Arsenic Post (Tolono)

  Sep 29, 2011 10:30 am

  My first arsenic post last March reported on the discovery that there were high arsenic levels in groundwater near Tolono, IL. We recently finished a small study of the area and are preparing a short report. Well be presenting the results at a public meeting at the Tolono Town Hall on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, at 7 PM.

• China and Pollution

  Sep 22, 2011 5:00 pm

  Ive been noticing a lot of stories about water pollution in China lately. Ive never been to China, but reports Ive read over the past couple of decades led me to believe that many water resources in China are heavily polluted, and the booming Chinese economy has been increasing the pressure on water resources. But there may be some good news as well.

• "Bag It", the movie: Plastics in the Environment

  Aug 31, 2011 5:45 pm

  The award winning documentary Bag It will be shown at the Art Theater in downtown Champaign on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, at 7 PM. I have seen the film and highly recommend it. It starts out as a critical look at plastic bags, but ends up being a much broader examination of the effects of plastic on the environment and human society.

• Hexavalent Chromium in Chicago Drinking Water

  Aug 12, 2011 2:15 pm

  In this past Sundays Chicago Tribune (August 7, 2011), the lead article was about high levels of hexavalent chromium in Chicagos drinking water. The article was titled Toxic metal stays in drinking water. Why is this news? After all, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a drinking water standard for total chromium (100 ppb), thus public water supplies are required to meet this standard.

• More Good News on the Environment, This Time From Germany

  Jul 15, 2011 4:45 pm

  About 6 months ago I wrote a post reporting on decreasing nitrate concentrations in Danish groundwater. The other day I ran across some encouraging news from a study in Germany, on organic pollutants in rivers.

• Our Nitrogen Footprint

  Jun 24, 2011 10:00 am

  Most people are familiar with the concept of a carbon footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide an individual or entity produces. Our transportation, food, manufacturing, building, and land use choices all affect the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere. Ever since the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans have had a major impact on the carbon cycle on Earth, resulting in climate change, accelerated melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans, etc. Another element whose cycle we have disrupted in a major way is nitrogen (N), and with impacts that may be similarly serious.

• Reading Your Water Quality Report

  Jun 7, 2011 3:15 pm

  I recently received in the mail the annual water quality report from our local water company, Illinois American Water. I usually only give them a quick glance, but this year I decided to take a closer look.

• Pharmaceuticals in Water

  May 20, 2011 4:45 pm

  Not so long ago, back in the 1990s or so, nobody really worried about what might happen if pharmaceutical drugs got released into the environment. In fact, we were advised to get rid of our unused drugs by flushing them down the toilet. What happened after that nobody really seemed to care about. If anything, it was assumed that the wastewater treatment processes would destroy them.

• Gasoline Additives and Groundwater

  Apr 29, 2011 2:15 pm

  With gasoline pushing up to and past $4 per gallon in Illinois, this is an opportune time to re-think our driving habits. But from an environmental perspective, it's always a good time to look at ways to use less gasoline. The less we use, the less the potential for pollution of water supplies from gasoline compounds.