CH2M Hill

Rice is the most-eaten food on the planet, and its discarded outer husk results in some 300 billion pounds of waste per year. FIU chemistry researcher Islam Ibrahim Hussein says the inedible castoffs could be the key to cleaner water.

Inspired by naturally-occurring mats and balls of seaweed, researchers have created highly-porous, superadhesive meshes that are capable of capturing both large and small microplastic particles – a longstanding challenge in the field. The mesh can clean microplastics from both saltwater and freshwater and is made from sustainable and widely available biopolymers.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become an increasingly common threat to lakes, rivers and coastal waters across the United States, endangering drinking water supplies, aquatic ecosystems, public health and local economies. Now, researchers at Florida Atlantic University are developing an innovative technology that could help stop these blooms before they spread.

As water security becomes one of the world’s defining challenges, effective regulation has emerged as a critical enabler of resilient and sustainable water systems.

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a roundtable on water workforce to discuss how to help recruit and retain individuals into meaningful careers in water and to identify opportunities where EPA can help reduce barriers and improve interstate coordination.

NOAA-supported scientists announced today that this year’s Gulf of America hypoxic zone is approximately 1,332 square miles, making it the 2nd smallest zone on record in 40 years of measurement. Hypoxic areas, also called “dead zones,” are areas with little to no oxygen in the water, which can negatively impact fish, shellfish, corals and aquatic plants by making critical habitat unavailable to bottom species.