http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. As a first line of defense, steel barrels buried deep underground are designed to keep dangerous plutonium waste from seeping into the soil and surrounding bedrock, and, eventually, contaminating the groundwater. But after several thousand years, those barrels will naturally begin to disintegrate due to corrosion. A team of scientists at Argonne National Lab (ANL) in Argonne, Ill., has determined what may happen to this toxic waste once its container disappears. http://phys.org/news239516388.html Physics Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:19:57 EST news239516388 (PhysOrg.com) -- Water softening techniques are very effective for removing minerals such as calcium and magnesium, which occur as positively-charged ions in "hard" water. But many heavy metals and other inorganic pollutants form negatively-charged ions in water, and existing water treatment processes to remove them are inefficient and expensive. http://phys.org/news234534780.html Chemistry Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:34:53 EST news234534780 The poet William Blake once wrote that we could "see a world in a grain of sand." Today, environmental engineers are seeing the world beneath the surface through a greener part of nature: the trunks and branches of trees. http://phys.org/news231416563.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:23:14 EST news231416563 University of New South Wales researchers have shown that they can safely destroy hazardous industrial toxins in groundwater arising from PVC plastic production by injecting naturally occurring bacteria into a contaminated Sydney aquifer – an Australian first that raises hope of cleaning up this and similarly polluted sites around the country. http://phys.org/news231394236.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Aug 2011 06:00:02 EST news231394236 The California Environmental Protection Agency has issued the nation's first public health goal for hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing heavy metal made infamous after activist Erin Brockovich sued in 1993 over contaminated groundwater in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. http://phys.org/news231222942.html Space & Earth Sat, 30 Jul 2011 06:20:01 EST news231222942 In a typical year, California gets about 30 percent of its water from groundwater wells. Yet when it comes to managing this precious resource, the state of California relies on a mixed bag of more than 2,000 local water agencies with varying degrees of authority. http://phys.org/news229255884.html Space & Earth Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:11:35 EST news229255884 Vinyl chloride is a cancer-causing compound formed from solvents in groundwater systems under anaerobic conditions. These solvents are used in many industrial applications around the world and often belong to the most encountered groundwater pollutants in industrialized countries. Groundwater is a major drinking water resource, and it is vital to determine if vinyl chloride can be further degraded into harmless compounds. http://phys.org/news227981841.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:17:34 EST news227981841 Computer algorithms might be useful in identifying sources of groundwater pollution, according to researchers in Australia and India. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management they explain how notoriously difficult it is to trace such pollution. http://phys.org/news227954806.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:46:57 EST news227954806 A quick and easy way to detect groundwater in semi-arid hard rock areas that is also economical could improve the siting of borewells to improve clean water supply in the developing world. Details of the approach are outlined in the International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology this month. http://phys.org/news227954330.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:39:08 EST news227954330 A new study from biology researchers at Baylor University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore has found that there are consistent and widespread declines in stream biodiversity at lower levels of urban development more damaging than what was previously believed. http://phys.org/news226748885.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:48:21 EST news226748885 Using a model organism isolated from a uranium seep of the Columbia River, scientists recently quantified how extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in subsurface environments can be used to immobilize heavy metal and radionuclide contaminants such as uranium [U(VI)]. http://phys.org/news226247762.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:40:27 EST news226247762 If China could divide its available fertilizers better among its provinces, it could produce 52 million tons more grain. This would enable China to tackle its growing demand for food and animal feed within its own borders. http://phys.org/news225712774.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 May 2011 11:30:01 EST news225712774 Rising salinity in the primary source for desalinated tap water in North Carolina's Outer Banks has been traced to fossil seawater, not – as some have feared – to recent seawater intrusion. http://phys.org/news224418380.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 May 2011 11:26:32 EST news224418380 Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have developed a method to detect the presence of soil and groundwater contamination without turning a shovel or touching the water. http://phys.org/news223295968.html Space & Earth Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:50:01 EST news223295968 Radioactive waste decaying down at the dump needs millions of years to stabilize. The element Neptunium, a waste product from uranium reactors, could pose an especially serious health risk should it ever seep its way into groundwater – even 5 million years after its deposition. Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have shown the hazardous waste can be captured and contained. The means? A particular kind of green goop that occurs naturally in oxygen-poor water. http://phys.org/news219578735.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:05:59 EST news219578735 The results of voluntary groundwater testing beneath a quarry where the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa deposit coal and biomass ash have shown levels of the sampled constituents all well below state and federal standards. http://phys.org/news217491807.html Space & Earth Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:40:01 EST news217491807 Researchers need to use all available resources in an integrated approach to put agriculture on a path to solve the world's food problems while reducing pollution, according to a Penn State biologist. Changes in national and international regulations will be necessary to achieve this goal. http://phys.org/news217259659.html Biology Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:20:03 EST news217259659 A Kansas State University scientist is digging deep to solidify information about potential tungsten contamination in the nation's groundwater and aquifers. http://phys.org/news215358128.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:42:34 EST news215358128 While major floods can cause terrible damage and losses, they can also recharge groundwater supplies in aquifers. http://phys.org/news215086910.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:22:06 EST news215086910 (PhysOrg.com) -- Insects produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases per kilogram of meat than cattle and pigs. This is the conclusion of Dutch team of scientists at Wageningen University, who have joined forces with government and industry to investigate whether the rearing of insects could contribute to more sustainable protein production. Insect meat could therefore form an alternative to more conventional types of meat. http://phys.org/news213981830.html Space & Earth Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:24:12 EST news213981830 (PhysOrg.com) -- Uranium contamination may move much slower in groundwater than previously believed, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Around the nation, sediments and groundwater are contaminated with uranium from discharges at mining and processing sites. Knowing how uranium spreads out or diffuses in water is critical to predicting its movement and removing the contamination. But previous estimates may have significantly overestimated the radionuclide's ability to move with the groundwater. http://phys.org/news211702069.html Chemistry Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:08:08 EST news211702069 (PhysOrg.com) -- Stanford researchers have found a way to use satellite data to monitor groundwater aquifers previously obscured by the crops they nourish. http://phys.org/news211474395.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:10:01 EST news211474395 The amount of water flowing in streams and rivers has been significantly altered in nearly 90 percent of waters that were assessed in a new nationwide USGS study. Flow alterations are a primary contributor to degraded river ecosystems and loss of native species. http://phys.org/news208007409.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:20:01 EST news208007409 Excessive groundwater development represents a greater threat to nearby rivers and streams during dry periods (low flows) than previously thought, according to research released today by CSIRO. http://phys.org/news207908479.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:21:33 EST news207908479 Scientific and political disputes over drilling Marcellus shale for natural gas have focused primarily on the environmental effects of pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals deep underground to blast through rocks to release the natural gas. http://phys.org/news207242841.html Space & Earth Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:27:36 EST news207242841 (PhysOrg.com) -- A massive treatment wall under construction this week at a Western New York nuclear waste cleanup site will stop radioactive contamination in its tracks for literally decades, according to University at Buffalo engineers who modeled and tested the wall's material. http://phys.org/news206898030.html Space & Earth Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:40:56 EST news206898030 A large section of northwestern Harris County - particularly the Jersey Village area - is sinking rapidly, according to a University of Houston (UH) geologist who has analyzed GPS data measuring ground elevation in the Houston area. http://phys.org/news204897564.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:00:01 EST news204897564 Elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, nutrients that can negatively impact aquatic ecosystems and human health, have remained the same or increased in many streams and aquifers across the Nation since the early 1990's, according to a new national study by the U.S. Geological Survey. http://phys.org/news204808307.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:12:13 EST news204808307 In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. http://phys.org/news204470960.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:29:45 EST news204470960 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the first large study to track the fate of a wide range of antibiotics given to dairy cows, UC Davis scientists found that the drugs routinely end up on the ground and in manure lagoons, but are mostly broken down before they reach groundwater. http://phys.org/news202132528.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:02:51 EST news202132528