Effects of wastewater from energy extraction and utilization on drinking water sources and risk

As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series Jeanne M. VanBriesen, Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and the Director of the Center for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems at Carnegie Mellon University will present "Effects of wastewater from energy extraction and utilization on drinking water sources and risk."

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Natural and anthropogenic sources of bromide can alter source waters in ways that affect drinking water quality and human health risk. Bromide, while unreactive in surface waters, interacts with treatment chemicals at the drinking water facility to produce halogenated organic compounds called disinfection by-products (DBPs). DBPs containing bromide are more toxic and carcinogenic than chlorinated DBPs, and the current regulatory structure may not adequately protect drinking water consumers from this changing risk.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Jeanne M. VanBriesen is the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. VanBriesen holds a B.S. in Education and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University.  Her research is in natural and engineered urban water systems, including modeling and analysis of drinking water distribution systems, speciation-driven biogeochemistry of disinfection by-products, and impacts of energy extraction on water systems. Dr. VanBriesen has served on the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, the board of the Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), and she is currently serving as chair of the board of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences (CUAHSI).