Lecture: Chemicals in the Water-The Struggle to Keep America's Drinking Water Safe
Professor David Reckhow, UMass Amherst Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will deliver the third lecture in the Fall 2005 Operations Research / Management Science Seminar series.
Title: Chemicals in the Water: The Struggle to keep America’s Drinking Water Safe
Abstract: The modern history of drinking water in the developed world is a triumphant story of technology and innovation. While once commonplace, waterborne diseases are now so rare as to make national news whenever an outbreak is identified. Yet, we continue to be plagued by water quality concerns. Chlorine, the very disinfectant that has saved us from typhoid and cholera, is now thought to be causing various forms of cancer in the US population. It might also be responsible for widespread spontaneous abortions and abnormally low birth weights. Yet, identifying the real risks from public drinking water has proven to be great challenge, eluding the top scientists at the National Institutes of Health. Instituting fair and equitable controls that insure the US public is protected from unacceptable risk may even be a greater challenge. In this talk, I will present some of the background on use of chlorination, and formation of disinfection hazardous byproducts in public water supplies. I will bring in some of the latest research in this area and discuss the USEPA strategy for protecting consumers of public drinking water.
This series is organized by the UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter. Support for this series is provided by the Isenberg School of Management, the Department of Finance and Operations Management, and the John F. Smith Memorial Fund.
Check here for more details about this speaker series.
