New method to monitor sewage pollution in rivers

Wastewater sequencing from a rural community enables identification of widespread adaptive mutations in a SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant

Central Michigan University (CMU) participated in a state-wide wastewater monitoring program starting in 2021. One rural site consistently produced higher concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 genome copies. Samples from this site were sequenced retrospectively and exclusively contained a derivative of Alpha variant lineage B.1.1.7 that shed from the same site for 20–28 months. Complete reconstruction of each SARS-CoV-2 open reading frame (ORF) and align…

Robert Macfarlane: Is a river alive?

Sam Leith's guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Robert Macfarlane. In his new book Is A River Alive? he travels from the cloud forests of Ecuador to the pollution-choked rivers of Chennai and the threatened waterways of eastern Canada. He tells Sam what he learned along the journey – and why we need to reconceptualise our relationship with the natural world.

New method to monitor sewage pollution in rivers

Scientists at the University of Stirling have developed a new method of monitoring the presence of pathogens in rivers polluted by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Pangbourne Citizen Science Water Quality Monitoring Programme Launches

This month marked the start of Thames21’s Reclaim Our Rivers citizen science water quality monitoring programme on the River Thames between South Stoke and Pangbourne. The programme will help build an understanding of river health at Pangbourne Meadow, a popular spot with river users, and highlight any potential pollution inputs affecting the site. This monitoring project will repeat a similar programme that took place in summer 2024, where heav…

Unlocking a new source of clean hydrogen from UK wastewater - Water Magazine

A first-of-its-kind project to use gas from sewage waste to produce clean hydrogen is being delivered at United Utilities’ largest wastewater treatment works in Manchester. The water company for the North West has joined forces with leading Cambridge-based climate tech firm Levidian to demonstrate the opportunity for biogas produced from wastewater to create hydrogen and super-material graphene – the thinnest and strongest material ever to be di…

Microplastics could actually help us, by detecting sewage in waterways

One of the worries about microplastic particle pollution is the possibility that the particles may accumulate harmful bacteria in the environment, then pass those microbes on to us. Well, that germ-grabbing capability could soon put the particles to work as sewage monitors in rivers.Continue ReadingCategory: Environment, ScienceTags: Microplastic, Pollution, Sewage, Water Conservation