Water Science
A fun and informative blog by Alexandra Lutz
Though this website has come about out of necessity, it has been on on my mind for a long time. I started a WordPress site a number of years ago while doing fieldwork in Niger, West Africa. It was difficult to post from there, but I managed to get a few landscape photos into a gallery. The website is probably still out there somewhere. I never did much more than that, because I needed to finish my dissertation – at least that’s what I convinced myself.
No more excuses! It’s time to sit down and start writing about water. Broad topic, I know. But, there are a lot of things that make this interesting, especially if you live in the Reno/Sparks area of Northern Nevada. Our water supply is the mountain snowpack plus a few reservoirs. This blog will explain why this is important and where you can get more information. If you have questions or comments please get in touch with me.
Latest from the Blog
PFAS
This past week, an EPA news release stated, “EPA Announces Plan to Update Toxics Release Inventory to Advance Environmental Justice.” Specifically mentioned under that headline was “reporting requirements for… PFAS.” What are PFAS and why should we worry about them? Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) belong to a large group of what is often called…
Drinking Water Treatment
In most places in the US, like here in the Truckee Meadows, you can fill a glass from the tap and drink safe water. How does this happen? In short, water is purified by treatment processes before it reaches your tap. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets treatment standards for the 151,000 public systems providing…
What’s in Your Water?
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act gave the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to set standards for public drinking water supplies in the US. See a previous blog for more information on the history of drinking water guidelines. Today the EPA has standards for over 90 contaminants in drinking water. A quick glance…
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