From its storied lakes to the Mississippi River headwaters, Minnesota and water are undeniably linked. But our water is a fragile resource, susceptible to disruption from climate change and a growing number of chemicals.
At the University of Minnesota, researchers are working to protect this vital resource for generations to come. Two of these researchers are Bill Arnold, Distinguished McKnight University professor and Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Professor in the College of Science and Engineering, and Andy Erickson, research manager at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory.
Together, they are tackling a critical and underappreciated problem: stormwater runoff, an important cause of pollution in our urban waterways and drinking water supplies.
Stormwater runoff is generated when rain or melted snow “runs off” into surface water instead of soaking into the ground. The runoff can pick up and deposit harmful chemicals into our lakes, rivers, and streams.
Through their collaborative research, Arnold and Erickson are working to understand and remove some of these “chemicals of emerging concern”—chemicals used in everything from pesticides and herbicides to pharmaceuticals like over-the-counter medications and diabetes drugs, Arnold explains—from our lakes and rivers.
By collecting Mississippi River water samples, testing different filtration methods, and analyzing the filtered samples, they are identifying how these chemicals are impacting our environment and finding innovative ways to keep our water clean and healthy.
At the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, “synthetic stormwater” is run through water columns containing different kinds of filtration materials. (Photo by Brady Willette)
Tell us how you work together. Why is collaboration important?
- Arnold: “Andy is the stormwater expert on campus, and we were interested in looking at different filtration media to see if we could remove contaminants from stormwater.”
- Erickson: “Multidisciplinary research and collaboration is essential. We need to come at the problem from multiple angles to understand how to overcome challenges and test ways to solve the problem holistically.”
Why is your research important to the people of Minnesota?
- Erickson: “We’re developing a process that we as a community can use in our cities to remove these pollutants and keep our water clean and healthy—not only for us today, but for our kids and future generations.”
- Arnold: “It’s really important to me to make sure that we’re keeping our water resources clean so they’re healthy ecologically and we’re not exposed to these chemicals.”
Some of the chemicals you’re studying are derived from rubbers (e.g. tires) and plastics. How did you come to include these chemicals in your research?
- Erickson: “One tire-derived chemical, 6PPD-quinone, has been linked to salmon mortality in the Pacific Northwest, and recent research is looking into species in Minnesota that may be impacted by it.”
- Arnold: “As we were developing our contaminant list, I reached out to some collaborators in San Francisco who were very concerned about 6PPD-q because of the toxicity issues. I asked them about other chemicals of concern, and they gave us a list of chemicals they’ve started to see in their urban water systems that are derived from both rubbers and plastics. It’s not just tires that leach these chemicals, but other materials, too.”
How do philanthropic gifts make a difference in this kind of research?
Arnold: “Endowed funds let us explore things that we might not otherwise be able to. We can take some risks to either get some new data, try an experiment, or go take some environmental samples and run them.”
Erickson: “Philanthropic gifts give us the flexibility to address the most pressing needs. We can rapidly respond to those challenges with research.”