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Local 12: UC investigates potential PFAS contamination in groundwater

UC launches a new water quality investigation along Great Miami River

headshot of Michael Miller By Michael Miller 513-556-6757
3 minute read May 9, 2024

Local 12 highlighted a new University of Cincinnati project to study water quality in southwest Ohio.

At the Theis-Nash Environmental Monitoring and Modeling Site along the Great Miami River, UC has studied the flow of water from the surface into the aquifer, a source of drinking water for much of southwest Ohio. These monitoring wells initially provided researchers with real-time data about the hydrodynamics of surface river water as it moved through the aquifer, particularly during periodic floods.

UC works with geologists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Lab at its groundwater observatory off the Great Miami River in Miamitown, where they study how surface water flows through an aquifer, a source of drinking water for thousands of local residents.

Assistant Professor Annette Rowe is studying the microbiology of groundwater along the Great Miami River. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

Now the monitoring site named for UC Professor Emeritus David Nash and the late hydrogeologist C.V. Theis will turn its focus to excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous and contaminants such as PFAS.

Groundwater is a source of drinking water for more than 2 million people in Ohio. Scientists are trying to understand what happens to chemicals such as PFAS, known as a forever chemicals, that leaches into the groundwater.

PFAS has been found in water along the entirety of the Ohio River. 

UC microbiologist Annette Rowe, an assistant professor of biology, said many chemicals we release into the environment end up in our drinking water. 

"The more we produce, the more we put into those ecosystems, the more they accumulate and have the potential to have detrimental impacts on every trophic level," she told Local 12.

We're just trying to understand what's going on and how big a problem it is. And every researcher's hope is that then will lead us to how do we fix these problems?" Rowe said.

UC is looking at ways microbes interact with the chemicals, which could make them less harmful to human health, Rowe said.

Watch the Local 12 story.

Featured image at top: UC students work with water samples at the groundwater observatory, which includes a network of monitoring wells. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

UC works with geologists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Lab at its groundwater observatory off the Great Miami River in Miamitown, where they study how surface water flows through an aquifer, a source of drinking water for thousands of local residents.

Work crews dig a new monitoring well along the Great Miami River. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

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