Law Professor Unveils Website Dedicated to Freshwater Micropollutants
May 19, 2010
As water resources dwindle across the U.S., the School of Law launches a website to continue building on existing knowledge of water law and policies.
The long-term objective of the Micropollutant Clearinghouse project is to continue building on existing knowledge and to expand the contents available in the clearinghouse.
As clean, abundant water resources dwindle across the United States, it is important to understand the human impact on water supplies.
Gabriel Eckstein, director of Texas Tech's Center for Water Law and Policy Center and George McCleskey Chair in Water Law at the School of Law, unveiled the Micropollutants Clearinghouse website, one component of a three-year, EPA-funded study looking at pharmaceuticals, personal care products and other micropollutants in freshwater systems, focusing on the ongoing law and policy analysis.
He introduced the website while presenting at “Symposium on Land-Based Threats to Waters: Recent Trends, from Nutrients to Pharmaceuticals” in Washington, D.C.
“The long-term objective of the Micropollutant Clearinghouse project is to continue building on existing knowledge and to expand the contents available in the clearinghouse on this important topic,” Eckstein said. “This is critical for developing and evaluating water laws, regulatory actions and policies relevant to the presence and effects of micropollutants in freshwater systems.”
The website is a publically accessible research resource on the legal, regulatory, institutional, policy and related scientific aspects of pharmaceuticals, personal care products and other micropollutants in freshwater systems, and contains a dynamic and robust database of documents, reports, information, analyses, articles and other materials.
The EPA project, which is in the final stages, has three components – development of the online clearinghouse of information; field study in Lubbock looking at micropollutants coming out of Lubbock’s wastewater treatment process; and, law and policy analysis related to micropollutants in freshwater systems.