Stony Brook University gets $5 Million for Water Quality

Published on by in Business

Stony Brook University gets $5 Million for Water Quality

Stony Brook University scientists will work to develop new treatment and filtration systems for drinking water with $5 million in newly acquired state funding. 

APBxhWO.jpg The funding is slated to support the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University, a joint venture of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, or SoMas, and the College of Engineer and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook. 

Center officials will use the recently secured funding to develop and, later, test new contaminant filtration and treatment technologies that could one day be introduced on Long Island.

A long-term goal of the program is to create local economic development opportunities by attracting companies to the area that could eventually produce the new systems.

“The best way to tackle the situation is to make the technology better—so we’re creating better tools,” said Jennifer Garvey, associate director for the center. “Our water infrastructure, in general, is old. Ultimately, this is going to make water safer for our residents.”

An estimated 360,000 outdated septic tank systems and cesspools across Suffolk County are responsible for a 50-percent increase in nitrogen found in the groundwater since 1985, according to a report from the center, which focused on nitrogen pollution and on-site wastewater treatment systems.

Increased nitrogen levels are known to contribute to toxic algal blooms by depriving the water of oxygen, resulting in the loss of seagrass and wetlands. High nitrogen levels, and reoccurring algal blooms, also have been blamed for decimating local shellfish and marine life populations. 

According to Ms. Garvey, the $5 million will allow for the testing of those new technologies, and also encourage additional research and the development of new systems. The state money will help underwrite the costs of those tests, many of which will focus on the ability of the new units to remove more contaminants from water.

Former Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, who sits on an advisory board for the center and is running for Congress this November, said she thinks the facility will serve a significant role in the development of new technologies that protect both groundwater and drinking water supplies.

“This is an immediate crisis,” she said. “The drinking water, groundwater and surface water are a critical part of our economy. This is something that has an absolute effect for everyone that lives and works on Long Island.”

Another issue, according to Ms. Garvey, is that current state and federal guidelines do not take into consideration all of the different types of contaminants that could eventually find their way into ground and surface waters. While current regulations address things like mercury, arsenic and asbestos, they do not establish acceptable levels for other foreign substances—some of which are being created every day.

The $5 million investment is part of a greater effort by the Statewide Water Quality Rapid Response Team created by Governor Andrew Cuomo and charged with identifying and developing plans to address drinking water contamination concerns, as well as related groundwater and surface water contamination problems. Ms. Garvey, who served as deputy chief of staff to Ms. Throne-Holst when she was town supervisor, helped conceive the center that was established using $2 million in Albany seed money in 2015. 

Source: 27east

Media

Taxonomy