UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.
UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.
Using a mineral-coated sand that reacts with and destroys organic pollutants, the researchers have discovered that the engineered sand could help purify storm water percolating into underground aquifers, creating a safe and local reservoir of drinking water for parched communities.
“The way we treat storm water, especially in California, is broken. We think of it as a pollutant, but we should be thinking about it as a solution,” said Joseph Charbonnet, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley. “We have developed a technology that can remove contamination before we put it in our drinking water in a passive, low-cost, non-invasive way using naturally-occurring minerals.”
Read more at University of California – Berkeley
Image Credit: University of California – Berkeley
