From May through June 2001, an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis that affected at least 200 persons occurred in a combined activity camp and conference center in Stockholm County. The source of illness was contaminated drinking water obtained from private wells. The outbreak appears to have started with sewage pipeline problems near the kitchen, which caused overflow of the sewage system and co...

the increasing production and use of fossil fuels increase the probability of soil source contamination by oil and petroleum products, and pose a hazard to life. there are over 43,000 chemical contaminated sites in canada and usa, with 2,200 of them classified as high risk. in the us, over $10 billion are spent annually on the cleanup of contaminated sites. the primary objective of this study w...

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident on March 11, 2011 attracted people's attention, with anxiety over possible radiation hazards. Immediate and long-term concerns are around protection from external and internal exposure by the liberated radionuclides. In particular, residents living in the affected regions are most concerned about ingesting contaminated foodstuffs, including dri...

This paper provides estimates of the effects of in utero exposure to contaminated drinking water on fetal health. To do this, we examine the universe of birth records and drinking water testing results for the state of New Jersey from 1997 to 2007. Our data enable us to compare outcomes across siblings who were potentially exposed to differing levels of harmful contaminants from drinking water ...

Outbreaks of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections associated with lettuce and other leaf crops have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years. Contaminated manure and polluted irrigation water are probable vehicles for the pathogen in many outbreaks. In this study, the occurrence and persistence of E. coli O157:H7 in soil fertilized with contaminated poultry or bovine ...

Walter W. Kovalick, Jr., Ph.D. Director An emerging technology for the remediation of ground water is the use of microorganisms to degrade contaminants which are present in aquifer materials. Understanding the processes which drive in-situ bioremediation, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the utilization of these systems, are issues which have been identified by the Regional Superf...

As the number of leaking underground fuel tank sites with MTBE contamination continues to grow, there is a need to develop cost-effective solutions for treatment of soil and water contamination. MTBE poses special challenges due to its physicochemical properties, in particular high solubility and low Henry’s constant, low affinity for sorption, and very slow rate of microbial degradation. Advan...

Dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoicacid) is a highly mobile pre- and post-emergence herbicide that has been detected in ground water. We determined the potential of zerovalent iron (Fe0) to remediate water contaminated with dicamba and its common biological degradation product, 3,6-dichlorosalicylic acid (DCSA). Mixing an aqueous solution of 100 microM dicamba with 1.5% Fe0 (w/v) resulted in...