FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Scientists at the University of Arkansas said Tuesday they are developing an activated carbon that could lead to cleaner, safer drinking water in Tulsa.
The school’s Water Research Laboratory plans to spend the next two years working on the fix for Oklahoma’s second-largest city. The project is being funded through a $156,000 grant from the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority.
Scientists said the goal of the project is to improve Tulsa’s drinking water by decreasing the formation of regulated disinfectant byproducts. Those chemicals are formed as an unintended consequence when drinking water is disinfected.
For example, organic matter present in source waters reacts with disinfectants such as free chlorine or chloramine to form the disinfectant byproducts.
Since the 1970s, scientists have identified more than 600 of these byproducts, many of them suspected carcinogens.
“Any time we can work with water utilities— that’s a way of helping consumers,” said Julian Fairey, an assistant professor of civil engineering and director of the university’s Water Research Laboratory. “Ultimately that’s why we do the research, to help improve the quality of drinking water in U.S. drinking water systems.”
All drinking water sources contain natural organic matter, derived from algae, land plants, soil and other natural substances.
While particulate matter settles out during typical treatment processes, tiny particles called colloids remain in the water and react with free chlorine to form disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids — which are regulated by the EPA.