Quantifying Nanomaterial Dose in Drinking Water and Assessing the Environmental Risks Posed by Residual Waste Streams Rich in Manufactured Nanomaterials

University Of Wyoming, Laramie WY

Investigators

Abstract

1134231 Brant This NSF award by the Environmental Health and Safety of Nanotechnology program supports work by Professor Jonathan Brant to study the removal of manufactured nanomaterials from drinking water. The project team will also study the release of manufactured nanomaterials into the natural environment from the residual waste products that are generated during the drinking water treatment. This work is important to the general public because it will provide the data that is necessary for determining what dose may be expected for various manufactured nanomaterials in drinking water that has been treated using conventional and advanced technologies. It will also help to determine the suitability of existing approaches for disposing of treatment residuals for preventing the release of manufactured nanomaterials into the surrounding environment. Such information is needed in order to determine the risk that may be associated with the continued development and commercialization of manufactured nanomaterials, and ultimately with the products that result from advancements in nanotechnology. The broader significance and importance of this project will be twofold. First, the results and insights gained from this work will provide a basis by which engineers, scientists, and regulators can begin to assess the ability of existing treatment schemes for effectively removing manufactured nanomaterials from drinking water. Furthermore, it will provide a quantitative assessment of the concentration, or dose, of these materials that may reasonably be expected to occur in conventionally treated drinking water. These findings hold great significance for society as it seeks to understand the risks that are associated with nanotechnology, with which manufactured nanomaterials are intimately related. Second, students in Wyoming, both K-12 and college level, will learn how to treat drinking water using both conventional and advanced approaches and be introduced to one of tomorrow?s most pressing problems ? the emergence and subsequent removal of new drinking water contaminants.