Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech 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.
Sinking cities: The quiet crisis hitting urban America
Twenty-eight major U.S. cities, including New York, Dallas, and Seattle, are seeing urban areas sink by 2 to 10 millimeters per year, according to new research from Virginia Tech. The major cause is groundwater extraction. Published in Nature Cities, the study used satellite-based radar measurements to create high-resolution maps of subsidence, or sinking land, for 28 […]
Study looks at native plant’s role in managing salt pollution and impact on water quality
Salt pollution in freshwater is a growing global concern. Excessive salt harms plants, degrades soil, and compromises water quality. In urban areas, road salts used for de-icing during winter often wash into stormwater systems, posing health concerns and challenges for infrastructure. Specifically, salts can impact the processes like filtration and contaminate retention basins that are used […]
New partnership uses AI to bolster efficiency, cybersecurity for water treatment
Muleshoe, Texas, may not seem a likely setting for a thrilling espionage story. But what happened there in January — a cyberattack on a public water utility, allegedly perpetrated by a Russian hacking group — was exactly the kind of warning sign that Feras Batarseh has been worried about. “Out of the 16 critical infrastructures [defined by […]
Study suggests sinking land increases risk for thousands of coastal residents by 2050
One in 50 people living in two dozen coastal cities in the United States could experience significant flooding by 2050, according to Virginia Tech-led research. Published in Nature, the study combines satellite-obtained measurements of sinking land, also known as subsidence, with sea-level rise projections and tide charts to provide a new comprehensive look at the potential for flooding […]
Low oxygen in lakes may breathe new life into conservation efforts for water quality
Abigail Lewis traveled all across the United States for college and graduate school, and she ended up researching lakes in her own hometown. For one of her graduate research projects, Lewis analyzed 656 lakes across five continents with an international research team. The lakes in her hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin, were among those included. “To […]
From NYC to DC and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking
Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year—a decline at the ocean's edge that well outpaces global sea level rise, confirms new research from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, […]
Research finds Caribbean islands are uniquely susceptible to flash droughts
The word "drought" typically conjures images of parched soil, dust-swept prairies, depleted reservoirs, and dry creek beds, all the result of weeks or seasons of persistently dry atmospheric conditions. In the sun-soaked islands in the Caribbean, however, drought conditions can occur much more rapidly, with warning signs appearing too late for mediation strategies to limit […]
Appalachian drinking water quality and health data lacking, study finds
Faced with a drought of data concerning Appalachian drinking water quality and resulting health outcomes, researchers dug deeply to find what trickles they could. Alasdair Cohen, assistant professor of environmental epidemiology in public health, has studied drinking water and health challenges in rural areas internationally and in California. Since arriving at Virginia Tech in 2019, […]
Study: Sinking ground in parts of Chesapeake Bay area will worsen flooding from rising sea levels
Using radar imaging to measure elevation changes, Virginia Tech researchers have uncovered an important gap in planning for sea level rise in the Chesapeake Bay. In some areas, sea levels are rising at a faster rate than previously thought because the land is sinking.