University of Illinois
University of Illinois is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Researchers investigate how to keep water-conserving rain barrels free of mosquitoes
As people look to reduce their water use for environmental and ecological reasons, rain barrels have gained popularity for catching rainwater that can be stored and used for irrigation. These green infrastructure tools can conserve hundreds of gallons of water per year and reduce stormwater runoff. However, as a source of standing water, improperly maintained […]
Researchers develop enhanced method for wastewater surveillance of antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a global concern that threatens our ability to prevent and treat bacterial infections in humans and animals. To better monitor the emergence and spread of resistance, researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology developed a CRISPR-enriched metagenomics method for the enhanced surveillance of antibiotic resistance genes, ARGs, in wastewater. […]
Streams near farms emit high levels of greenhouse gas, studies find
In the upper reaches of a Minnesota watershed, the water is so full of dissolved nitrous oxide that University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hydrologist Zhongjie Yu likens it to a soda can. “If you grab water from the local streams and measure nitrous oxide, the saturation is tens of thousands of times higher than it would […]
New PFAS removal process aims to stamp out pollution ahead of semiconductor industry growth
A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS—including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS—from water in a single process. This new development is poised to address the growing industrial problem of contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly in semiconductor […]
PFAS found in nearly all fish tested from four northern Illinois rivers
Scientists tested nine fish species from four northern Illinois rivers for contamination with per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances, synthetic chemicals found in numerous industrial and commercial products and known to be harmful to human health. They found fish contaminated with PFAS in every one of their 15 test sites. Elevated levels of PFOS, one type of […]
Wastewater is a viable medium for growing lettuce in hydroponic systems, study shows
Urban agriculture has the potential to improve food security through local, efficient, and sustainable food production. Examples of urban food systems include hydroponics, where plants grow in a nutrient solution without soil, and aquaponics, which combines hydroponics with raising fish in tanks. A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the use of […]
Ancient Maya reservoirs offer lessons for today’s water crises
According to a new paper, ancient Maya reservoirs, which used aquatic plants to filter and clean the water, "can serve as archetypes for natural, sustainable water systems to address future water needs." The Maya built and maintained reservoirs that were in use for more than 1,000 years, wrote University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign anthropology professor Lisa […]
Nanofluidic design from Leburton group generates power with saltwater
There is a largely untapped energy source along the world’s coastlines: the difference in salinity between seawater and freshwater. A new nanodevice can harness this difference to generate power. A team of researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has reported a design for a nanofluidic device capable of converting ionic flow into usable electric […]
Renewable solar energy can help purify water, the environment
Chemists led by Beckman researcher Xiao Su have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources.