Stormwater infrastructure for treatment of emerging trace organic contaminants

化学品污染正在接近地球的边界，这意味着目前无处不在的化学品释放到环境中可能会对生态系统和人类健康造成广泛和不可逆转的影响。目前，全球使用的化学品超过35万种。当这些化学品被冲进我们家中和工作场所的下水道，或者雨水将它们从室外表面带入雨水沟，然后进入接收沃茨时，它们中的许多都会对水生生态系统产生负面影响。例如，鲑鱼的死亡与轮胎中的化学物质有关，水生无脊椎动物受到跳蚤和蜱虫治疗狗的杀虫剂的伤害。不幸的是，我们目前的废水和雨水基础设施无法去除其中许多化学物质，并可能产生额外的未检测到但与毒理学相关的转化产物，这些产物会损害水生环境。人工湿地和生物滞留系统等基于自然的处理系统是低成本的系统，越来越多地用于处理废水和减少风暴期间的洪水，但目前尚未设计用于去除痕量有机污染物。我的研究将痕量污染物的识别与从水中去除这些污染物的处理系统的设计结合起来。我的研究计划的长期目标是开发分析方法来评估水中的痕量污染物，并将这些分析方法集成到处理系统的工程中，将有害化学物质转化为良性和易于降解的产品。该研究计划的短期目标集中在解决城市雨水径流中的污染物：（1）确定污染物和转化产品从城市表面动员，（2）评估战略，以加强自然为基础的雨水处理系统，（3）评估先进的氧化处理工艺对雨水污染物的影响。为了实现目标1，我的研究团队将进行风化实验，并将使用新开发的分析技术来测量雨水样本中的污染物。为了实现目标2和3，我的研究团队将在实验室规模上模拟雨水处理过程，以优化设计参数并评估痕量污染物的转化。该研究计划将为与城市供水系统相关的污染物转化提供基本见解，并将为保护水生环境和饮用水供应健康的监管和处理方法提供信息。该计划的另一个重点是准备学员进入环境工程劳动力。学生将培养解决问题，批判性思维，沟通以及收集和分析环境数据的技能，这将使他们能够解决水资源短缺，气候变化和供水广泛化学污染交叉点的当前挑战。

Chemical pollution is approaching a planetary boundary, meaning that the current, ubiquitous release of chemicals to the environment may cause widespread and irreversible impacts on ecosystems and human health. Today, over 350,000 chemicals are used worldwide. Many of those chemicals can negatively impact aquatic ecosystems when they are washed down the drains in our homes and workplaces and when rain carries them from outdoor surfaces into storm drains and then into receiving waters. For instance, salmon mortality has been linked to chemicals leached from tires, and aquatic invertebrates are harmed by pesticides from flea and tick treatments for dogs. Unfortunately, our current wastewater and stormwater infrastructure is unable to remove many of these chemicals and can produce additional undetected but toxicologically-relevant transformation products that harm the aquatic environment. Nature-based treatment systems, such as constructed wetlands and bioretention systems, are low-cost systems that are increasingly used to treat wastewater and to reduce flooding during storm events, but they are currently not engineered to remove trace organic contaminants. My research pairs the identification of trace contaminants with the design of treatment systems that remove such contaminants from water. The long-term goals of my research program are to develop analytical approaches to assess trace contaminants in water and to integrate these analytical methodologies into the engineering of treatment systems to transform harmful chemicals into benign and readily-degradable products. The short-term objectives of this research program focus on addressing contaminants in urban stormwater runoff by: (1) identifying contaminants and transformation products mobilized from urban surfaces, (2) evaluating strategies to enhance nature-based stormwater treatment systems, and (3) assessing the effects of advanced oxidation treatment processes on stormwater contaminants. Toward Objective 1, my research team will conduct weathering experiments, and will use newly-developed analytical techniques to measure contaminants in stormwater samples. Toward Objectives 2 and 3, my research team will simulate stormwater treatment processes at the laboratory scale to optimize design parameters and evaluate the transformation of trace contaminants. This research program will provide fundamental insights into contaminant transformations relevant to urban water systems and will inform regulatory and treatment approaches to protect the health of aquatic environments and potable water supplies. Another focus of this program is to prepare trainees to enter the environmental engineering workforce. Students will develop skills in problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and collection and analysis of environmental data, which will enable them to address current challenges at the intersection of water scarcity, climate change, and widespread chemical contamination of water supplies.