EPA's risk management research develops ways to prevent and reduce pollution of air, land, and water, and to restore ecosystems. http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/ en-us Tue, 01 Dec 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/ http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/images/epafiles_logo_epaseal.gif 140 111 EPA's risk management research develops ways to prevent and reduce pollution of air, land, and water, and to restore ecosystems. http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/122009/news122009.html Waste-to-Energy technologies employ a variety of approaches to the goal of developing clean, sustainable energy from biomass (carbonaceous plant material or animal material). One well-known example is the use of municipal landfill gas (methane) as a source of energy for generating electricity. Sustainability Tue, 01 Dec 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/112009/news112009.html Americans generated about 250 million tons of waste. Of this amount, 54 percent was buried and 13 percent was combusted. Energy can be recovered from burying or burning waste. Communities across the U.S. are looking at ways to maximize resource and energy conservation in response to EPA’s Resource Conservation Challenge. Air Sun, 01 Nov 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/102009/news102009.html PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) make possible hundreds of popular non-stick and water-repellant commercial products. However, by their very nature, PFCs do not break down easily; instead they accumulate in the environment and have been found in water, air, soil, and in human and animal blood, world-wide. Air Thu, 01 Oct 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/092009/news092009.html Pinhole leaks in copper water lines are a major concern to both homeowners and drinking water utilities because of the high cost of residential line repairs and the waste of water resources from undetected leaks in service lines. Because copper pipe corrosion remains poorly understood, EPA supports ongoing research toward remedying the problem. Water Tue, 01 Sep 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/082009/news082009.html Can living near a major roadway be dangerous to your health? To provide some answers to that question, air quality specialists in EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) are gathering data to quantify the extent and concentrations of selected motor vehicle emissions near heavy-traffic roadways. The data will be useful in the development of programs, such as road and barrier construction, that could minimize near-road exposures to high-risk pollutants. Air Sat, 01 Aug 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/072009/news072009.html EPA recently launched a new web site called “Watershed Central” to help watershed organizations and other stakeholders find key information they need to implement watershed management decisions. The Watershed Central site includes guidance, tools, case studies and data resources that integrate EPA programs to help users share information, analyze data, and initiate or strengthen their own watershed efforts. Water Wed, 01 Jul 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/062009/news062009.html Nanotechnology - working with materials that are 100 nanometers or smaller - has potential applications in many facets of human life, from consumer products to medicine. It allows scientists to work with completely new materials by controlling matter at the atomic level, where the properties of matter change in ways researchers are just beginning to understand. While the potential benefits of nanotechnology are known, researchers and concerned consumers alike have raised questions about the potential risks. Sustainability Mon, 01 Jun 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/052009/news052009.html Groundwater that has become contaminated by chemicals that are sparingly soluble in water, such as chlorinated solvents, presents a serious ecological and human health risk. Groundwater remediation scientists at EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory are using absorption and light refraction analysis to determine the saturation distribution of common groundwater contaminants in order to facilitate research on the development of effective methods for remediating sites impacted by these chemicals. Water Fri, 01 May 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/042009/news042009.html The National Risk Management Research Laboratory presents many innovative research projects that directly involve homeowners and other stakeholders in real-world applications. In connection with Earth Day 2009, we offer a sampling of these technologies to illustrate how individuals and communities can benefit from their application. General Wed, 01 Apr 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/032009/news032009.html For more than 30 years, EPA has provided information to the U.S. drinking water systems—large and small—that serve millions of American consumers. In that time, EPA researchers have identified hundreds of potential contaminants to drinking water quality. Water Sun, 01 Mar 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/022009/news022009.html Heavy loads of nutrients, sediments, pesticides, and other materials can be harmful to delicate aquatic ecosystems. Riparian buffers – vegetated regions adjacent to streams and wetlands – are a common means of intercepting and controlling these pollutants as they enter water bodies. EPA considers nitrogen one of the top stressors to aquatic ecosystem health. Water Sun, 01 Feb 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/012009/news012009.html Within our continent’s aquifers lie archives of long-term climate changes describing precipitation recharge in watersheds. Aquifers act as filters that smooth out short-term climate fluctuations and record continental climate signals. Past temperature signals (paleotemperatures) are stored with dissolved noble (inert) gases in groundwater. Using noble gases as proxies, NRMRL hydrologists are sampling paleotemperatures in the Elwha watershed on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Water Thu, 01 Jan 2009 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news122008.html NRMRL’s Energy and Climate Assessment Team (ECAT) assesses emerging energy and pollution mitigation technologies and their potential effect on harmful emissions. With a focus on the energy and transportation sectors, ECAT helps EPA to better understand how technological evolution can impact future air quality. Air Tue, 02 Dec 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news112008.html NRMRL’s Environmental Technology Verification Program is conducting verification testing on innovative technologies designed to reduce particulate matter, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide emissions from diesel engine exhaust. Sustainability Sat, 01 Nov 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news102008.html NRMRL urban watershed researchers are evaluating the performance of a porous pavement system—interlocking concrete pavers with filter/gravel layers. This is just one of several types of porous pavements that filter rainwater runoff. Water Wed, 01 Oct 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news092008.html Each year many new chemicals join the thousands already in existence in the marketplace. Determining their potential hazard to humans and the environment is an ongoing challenge for EPA’s mission of sustainability in support of economic growth. Sustainability Mon, 01 Sep 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news082008.html Wherever national scientific conferences and trade shows are held, EPA is there, thanks to a popular outreach program managed by NRMRL technical communication specialists. General Fri, 01 Aug 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news072008.html NRMRL scientists are collaborating with residents to revitalize a community while learning about the effects of human decision making on natural resources. Sustainability Mon, 01 Jul 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news062008.html EPA researchers have developed an advanced hydraulic fracturing technology to help remediate subsoil contaminants. Water Sun, 01 Jun 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news052008.html NRMRL's swales research at the Urban Watershed Research Facility in Edison, New Jersey, helps communities safely route stormwater runoff and reduce runoff-carried pollutants. Sustainability Thu, 01 May 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news042008.html This April 19, EPA Cincinnati’s Office of Public Affairs will partner with the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition to present Earth Day as a major community event. Sustainability Tue, 01 Apr 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news032008.html Scientists from EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory will participate in the 2008 EPA Science Forum in Washington, DC, to highlight the role of innovative technologies in an expanding and sustainable economy. Sustainability Sat, 01 Mar 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news022008.html The Water Resource Adaption Program (WRAP) studies long-term effects of global climate change on U.S. water resources. Water Fri, 01 Feb 2008 7:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news012008.html When the federal rule limiting arsenic in drinking water was revised in 2001 to 10 parts per billion, it challenged nearly all small U.S. water systems (those serving 10,000 or fewer people) to find cost-effective ways to meet the new standards. Water Wed, 02 Jan 2008 8:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news122007.html A new EPA water research partnership was formed during the 2007 Clean Water Partnership Summit, held recently at National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) headquarters in Cincinnati. Water Fri, 30 Nov 2007 8:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news112007.html America's drinking and wastewater infrastructure is aging and the costs and environmental risks due to failure are sobering. Some 240,000 drinking water mains break each year costing billions in lost water. Water Tue, 06 Nov 2007 8:00:00 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news102007.html During a heavy rainfall, the impervious surfaces of urban environments-roadways, rooftops, and sidewalks-generate excess storm water runoff that can cause a long list of negative environmental impacts. Sustainability Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:23:03 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news092007.html "Stuff grows on pipes." That’s how one drinking water expert sums up the National Risk Management Research Laboratory’s (NRMRL's) innovative research into the pipe-wall dynamics of the distribution systems that carry finished water from treatment plant to consumer tap. Water Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:23:03 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news082007.html The ability to spin straw into gold in the Grimm Brothers fairy tale may be fantasy, but the ability of National Risk Management Research Laboratories (NRMRL) scientists to extract market-ready metals and sulfur while cleaning up contaminated wastewaters is a reality. Sustainability Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:23:03 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news072007.html Modern landfills are complicated and costly structures. Closely regulated by state and federal statutes, they are designed to protect buried trash from contact with air, light, and water. This “dry tomb” technology relies on various systems of liners and surface capping using clay, plastic membranes, or both. Land Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:23:03 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news062007.html The intersection of technology, economics, and environment in modern societies has often created long-term results that are intuitively unknowable. Consider, for example, the fuel-based technologies that have positively transformed U.S. and global economies, but whose negative environmental effects are still not fully understood after generations of use. Sustainability Fri, 1 Jun 2007 15:23:03 -400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news052007.html Reducing the loading of “stressors” (pollutants) on watershed streams and lakes is the concern of a broad range of environmental stakeholders, including local and state governments, utilities, farm collectives, construction firms, and even homeowners. Water Tue, 1 May 2007 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news042007.html Innovative NRMRL researchers who specialize in "greener" chemistry approaches are focusing on nanotechnology, a method that allows materials to be developed at the nanoscale, i.e., at one-billionth the size. Because of its unique ability to vastly increase the ratio of surface area to volume, nanotechnology is particularly promising in a surface-based science such as catalysis, i.e., the acceleration of chemical reactions. Sustainability Sun, 1 Apr 2007 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news032007.html Water quality researchers have long been aware that Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite, is present in many of the U.S. lakes and rivers that supply public drinking water. But it was not until Cryptosporidium was implicated in a waterborne disease outbreak that sickened more than 400,000 people in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that the scientific community focused attention on better understanding Cryptosporidium and its potential risk to public health. Water Thu, 1 Mar 2007 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news022007.html Most people are familiar with the use of radiocarbon dating to place once-living objects in their historical period. In a parallel approach, NRMRL hydrologists are pioneering the measurement of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes to determine the age (that is, the residence time) of ground water in support of watershed contamination studies. Water Thu, 1 Feb 2007 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news012007.html Perchlorate is a toxic chemical compound whose widespread contamination of U.S. groundwaters became recognized in the late 1990s with the introduction of new detection methods. Water Mon, 1 Jan 2007 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news122006.html The boom-and-bust history of early western mining towns is well preserved in American folklore and song. Unfortunately, that colorful legacy has a darker side that can be seen today in hundreds of abandoned non-coal mines whose metal-laden wastewaters contaminate the delicate ecosystems of the west and pollute thousands of downstream creeks and rivers. Water Fri, 1 Dec 2006 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news112006.html The United States enjoys one of the world’s highest standards of drinking water, but EPA water researchers are always alert to new risks of contamination, whether at the point of treatment or in the distribution systems that carry finished water to the consumer. Water Wed, 1 Nov 2006 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news102006.html More than 1,000 fungal species (or molds) have been found in U.S. homes. Of these, only a small number are currently implicated in adverse human health effects. They include fungi such as Stachybotrys chartarum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus versicolor, and Cladosporium spp. Air Sun, 1 Oct 2006 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news092006.html NRMRL researchers recently collaborated with community officials in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to test an experimental method for asbestos removal from several abandoned buildings at a nearby U.S. Army base. Air Fri, 1 Sept 2006 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news082006.html Two NRMRL researcher inventions were recently selected for exhibition at the World’s Best Technologies Showcase in Arlington, Texas. This annual program highlights stellar technologies developed by government laboratories, universities, and research institutions, with the goal of helping speed them to the marketplace. Water Tues, 1 Aug 2006 8:00:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news072006.html Creeks and streams that are scoured by storm water runoff in remote areas of the western U.S. may develop into wild and beautiful landscapes. But when storm waters degrade streams in densely populated urban areas, the results are likely to be deteriorated neighborhood esthetics and polluted recreational areas. Water Fri, 30 Jul 2006 15:36:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news062006.html From an air quality perspective, a municipality might be defined as a body of land surrounded by pollution emissions. These may arise from single sources such as smokestacks or from ‘wide-area’ sources such as solid waste landfills. Air Thu, 1 Jun 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news052006.html Thallium is a naturally occurring metal that can be toxic to humans who consume plants grown in thallium-contaminated soils. Thallium is also a precious metal nearly as economically valuable as gold. Ecosystems Mon, 1 May 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news042006.html One of the most interesting stormwater control systems under evaluation by EPA is the “green roofs” program. Green roofs are vegetative covers applied to building roofs to slow, or totally absorb, rainfall runoff during storms. Water Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news032006.html Pollution control and remediation approaches often follow a standard development and validation course before widespread acceptance in the marketplace. In general, that process begins with applied basic research on a potential approach followed by proof of concept, bench- and pilot-scale testing, field-scale application, full-scale demonstration, and finally, commercial use. Sustainability Thu, 3 Mar 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news022006.html In 2005, EPA's Office of Research and Development and Office of Water presented 11 arsenic training workshops nationwide to provide in-depth treatment technology training to help drinking water systems become compliant with the new arsenic rule of 10 parts per billion (10 ppb). Water Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news012006.html Communicating information about everyday health risks, such as smoking or obesity, is a significant challenge for health professionals. But far more challenging is the need to communicate health risks in a crisis situation—actual or potential. Ecosystems Mon, 13 Jan 2006 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news112005.html In the wake of the deadly tsunami that struck more than a dozen Indian Ocean countries in December 2004, worldwide relief agencies quickly joined the daunting effort of long-term cleanup and restoration. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), inundated with queries about safe well-water, called upon EPA risk management specialists to review CDC guidelines for the restoration of contaminated local wells. Water Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news092005.html Sharing information with communities involved in contaminated site cleanups is fundamental to EPA's risk communication strategies. As part of this process, EPA specialists may be called upon to describe complex scientific technologies to audiences with vested interests, but with little or no scientific background. Water Wed, 20 Sep 2005 10:04:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news052005.html Brownfields redevelopment is one of EPA's most notable success stories. Brownfields, so-called to distinguish them from suburban "greenfields", are abandoned properties whose cleanup and redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. Land Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:16:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news032005.html A key step in the management of pollution-abatement programs is evaluating how well they actually perform in reducing the targeted pollution. Program evaluation is always challenging, but becomes even more so when the pollution-reduction effort is spread out over an entire watershed. Ecosystems Mon, 21 Mar 2005 08:27:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news022005.html The management of environmental risks often involves two very different strategies: the control of toxic emissions and the control of human exposures. The first relies on the application of sound science and engineering to prevent or control pollutants. Tech Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:27:00 -0400 http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/news/news122004.html To many people, the term "ground water" conjures up images of large underground lakes far beneath the earth’s surface. In truth, ground water is more like the liquid in a saturated sponge with fingers that can shoot out in all directions. Water Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:00 -0400