Scientists from the University of Kentucky are taking a look at what is flowing through the commonwealth's creeks and streams. The team focused on surface water, since that is where the majority of Kentuckians get their drinking water.
Earlier this year, the team published a study to show what they found.
On that team was Tiffany Messer, Associate Professor of Biosystems Engineering at UK. In an interview with Eastern Standard, she said there were only a few major concerns, but they did find some items to keep an eye on.
“The majority of the chemicals were, on average, below current human standards, but we did have five that exceeded the water quality criteria for freshwater organisms, think more of the bugs in your stream, which impacts the overall health of your stream,” she said. “These included aluminum and iron, and these two are in particular in the ag watersheds and the urban watersheds.”
Messer said these metals are often found in pesticides and fertilizers, as well as salt on roads, which will attach itself to soil and get flushed into waterways during floods.
Messer said the study found higher levels of sulfate in eastern Kentucky. She said it doesn't usually impact people's health, but it will cause water to smell.
She said in eastern Kentucky, they also found elevated levels of caffeine in the water, and that is an indication of something called “straight piping.”
“So, straight piping is where you have your toilet, when you flush it, there is a pipe that goes straight into a stream. It doesn't go to a wastewater treatment plant, it doesn't go to a septic system, it literally just runs downhill into the stream with no treatment,” Messer said. “Many people drink coffee in the morning, and it does go through your body pretty quickly, and it goes into the waste, which, if you're doing straight piping, ultimately goes into the stream.”
The team is also working with high school students near the testing sites. Messer said they are helping validate their efforts to clean some of these waters in a more natural way.
“They are using their own tap water and putting it into the small wetland systems,” Messer said. These are about the size of a fishbowl. “They do the experiments and compare them with what we're doing in some greenhouses.”
She said these wetlands act as filters to help clean water for people further downstream.
Hear more with Tiffany Messer later today on Eastern Standard on WEKU.
