(PhysOrg.com) — Although America’s supply of drinking water is considered among the world’s safest, there is an urgent need to develop more stringent regulations to guide how water is monitored for pollutants, according to April Gu, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University. Gu is working on the fundamental research underlying our ability to identify and monitor real and potential pollutants in water and remove them at lower cost than is now possible.

April Gu, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, examines water in the lab. Photo by Craig Bailey

Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environment Research Foundation, Gu and her colleagues hope to provide the necessary information to improve–both in cost and efficiency–how water treatment facilities remove pollutants from wastewater before it is released into the environment—our bays, harbors, rivers, and lakes.

Boston’s largest wastewater treatment facility, housed on Deer Island, treats 370 million gallons of sewage each day from 43 communities in Massachusetts. Gu is looking at how a treatment facility like this can improve current contaminant removal processes to make the water safer.

She is exploring a method to monitor how genes in bacteria are expressed when exposed to emerging contaminants, including nanomaterials and other toxic compounds that are products of new technology-driven industries. The data collected on the genetic reactions will provide fundamental toxicity data about the chemicals present in the water. This, said Gu, would provide a scientific basis on which to develop updated and accurate federal water regulations.

More of the story,
click image