Texas Tech Law Professor Discusses Micropollutants in Freshwater Systems

While concerns grow over pharmaceuticals and other pollutants in America’s water supply, one Texas Tech University water law expert is providing a database of information and analyses of law and policy on the subject. Gabriel Eckstein, director of the Texas Tech University Center for Water Law and Policy Center at the Texas Tech School of Law, will give a status update on a three-year EPA-funded project, studying pharmaceuticals, personal care products and other micropollutants in freshwater systems and focusing on related policy questions. During his speech at the “Symposium on Land-Based Threats to Waters: Recent Trends, from Nutrients to Pharmaceuticals,” Eckstein will unveil theMicropollutants Clearinghouse website, a publically accessible research resource on the legal, regulatory, institutional, policy and related scientific aspects of micropollutants in freshwater systems.  The database will include documents, reports, information, analyses, articles and other materials. The online resource is one of three aspects of the EPA-funded project, which is in its final stages. The other components are a field study in Lubbock, Texas, looking at micropollutants coming out of Lubbock’s wastewater treatment process; and, law and policy analysis related to micropollutants in freshwater systems. The symposium is noon-4 p.m. Thursday (May 13) in the Jacob Burns Moot Court Room at the George Washington University Law School. Eckstein can be reached while in Washington, D.C., at (806) 441-7172.