Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins contributes to this article on how water sources across Colorado contain potentially hazardous levels of the toxins under the new standard. Dozens of water sources across Colorado previously thought to be safe would now violate the federal maximum contaminant level for PFAS, or toxic “forever chemicals,” under a new standard proposed Tuesday. March 14, 2023
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall contributes to this article that talks about how the Western Slope snowpack has piled up to its normal peak weeks ahead of usual, and with more snow in the forecast, the healthy supply promises some relief to receding Colorado reservoirs. She says that from above, satellites are also tracking the total snow-covered area in Colorado. March 14, 2023.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins and PhD candidate Stefanie Shea were co-authors of paper honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers on on poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS. The winning paper detailed research on the use of bench-scale experiments to measure and evaluate the desorption rate kinetics from a vadose zone soil exposed decades ago to aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs). March 14, 2023.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins contributes to this article and states that “It is very clear there is PFOS and PFOA (on Buckley) and they are at orders of magnitude above the health advisory — which is really not a surprise, being that that is very typical for a foam-fire-fighting site.” He went on to add that this is a national-scale issue that is being addressed everywhere in the country. March 2, 2023.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall is among Mines alumni and researchers that are at the forefront of U.S. water management challenges, whether that’s through mitigation, water reuse, new water systems or alternative renewable energy systems. The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the southwestern U.S., with nearly 40 million Americans in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming relying on the Colorado River System for drinking water and to support farming and recreation. However, the Colorado River Basin water supply is dwindling, leading to water management challenges and an uncertain future of water in the West. February 2, 2023.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall is featured on this podcast discussing how the seven U.S. states along the Colorado River — Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California — are up against yet another deadline to curb their water use amid extreme drought. They have until Tuesday to agree on massive voluntary cuts or the Bureau of Reclamation, a Department of the Interior agency, has said it will impose cuts on them. The basin states have called the federal government’s bluff before, but whatever happens next week, millions of westerners and their livelihoods will be affected. January 25, 2023.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins contributed to this article about how the airport has known about the potential contamination on its property for years but hasn’t tested for it or taken steps to protect nearby residents. There are no laws requiring it to take action. Scientists say the airport’s $1.4 billion construction project could make the contamination problem worse. July 15, 2022.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins contributed to this article about how something as simple as drinking tap water is exposing millions of Illinoisans to toxic chemicals that build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body. Scientists call the chemicals per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. They are commonly known as forever chemicals because they don’t break down in the environment. July 12, 2022.
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Chris Higgins contributes to this article about how environmental groups say there is no safe level for toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water or on farm land. State regulators say they are studying it. June 20, 2022.
The Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Paul Santi, Director of the Mines Institute for Initiatives in Latin America, is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (UNT), located in Trujillo on the Pacific coast of northwest Peru. This new collaboration agreement on May 9 to establish the Center for Research in Sustainable Resources (Centro para Investigación en Recursos Sostenibles) and to begin the first phase of collaborative research projects involving research teams and students based in the U.S. and in Peru. May 24, 2022.