Tao Ye, Ph.D., (second left)
stands with his graduate students who are helping him study the mitigation of
disinfection byproducts in drinking water thanks to a three-year grant from the
National Science Foundation.
Tao Ye, Ph.D., assistant
professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at South
Dakota Mines, is Mines’ primary investigator on a recently awarded three-year grant from the National Science Foundation,
which will study the mitigation of disinfection byproducts in drinking water.
Chlorine has
been used to disinfect drinking water for more than a century. When chlorine
reacts with other compounds in untreated water, it creates byproducts that can
cause elevated cancer risks in humans. As these byproducts were studied in the
1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency developed regulations used today in municipal water
treatment. During continuing studies, scientists recently detected another byproduct,
created when chlorine reacts with a chemical used in x-ray contrast media,
which are substances that, for a short period of time, temporarily change the
way x-rays, MRIs, CT scanners and other imaging tools interact with the body.
“We can’t
eliminate these chemicals – we can only reduce them,” Ye said.
Ye’s research
will focus on mitigating water treatment byproducts using ferrate, which is an
environmentally frieldny chemical for water treatment, ozone and ultraviolet
light. Water from Rapid Creek and other water sources across South Dakota will
be used, and the results will vary, based on the compounds found in each water
source, Ye said.
The grant also
includes South Dakota State University primary investigator Guanghui Hua, Ph.D. Hua and Ye intend to collaborate with
South Dakota water treatment professionals to address these challenges.