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The Advanced Water Quality Laboratory
at Auburn University

test tubes beakers

Globally, demand for water is increasing at the same time much of the world is experiencing significant, dynamic change.  As the U.S. responds to the growing demand for water, the aging water resources research infrastructure will be significantly stressed.  In addition, climate change in the form of a hotter, drier climate and rising sea levels have impacted even traditionally water-rich regions.  Water resources profoundly affect many aspects of society, including the economy, agriculture and food production, natural ecosystems, transportation, and public health, however, the infrastructure and engineering science required to address these challenges in the 21st century is largely undeveloped.

In an effort to meet these challenges, the AU Water Resources Center is in the process of developing a state-of-the-art water quality laboratory on the Auburn University campus.  The primary mission of the laboratory is to serve as a central service facility providing advanced water quality analysis focusing on a variety of pollutants including the emerging, difficult-to-measure contaminants that are increasingly found in the nation’s water supplies.  Examples of these contaminants include industrial products and intermediates; pesticides and herbicides; as well as pharmaceuticals and personal care products such as antibiotics, antidepressants, and chemotherapy drugs.  Such contaminants are present in exceedingly low levels and are difficult and expensive to detect.  Thus we know little of their presence and even less about their effects.

In particular, some pharmaceuticals (e.g., birth control pills) are endocrine disruptors designed to affect hormonal stability. However, after these chemicals pass through the body, an active residue can remain intact even after being processed in wastewater treatment plants.  These chemicals can adversely affect aquatic biota.  They can, for example, disrupt the endocrine system in fish, causing them to develop abnormally. Some endocrine disruptors can cause male fish to develop female characteristics like ovaries. Last year fish were found in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. that had both male and female attributes.  Although we know that endocrine disruptors are exerting known ecological impacts, we know little of their impacts on humans.

One goal of Auburn’s water quality laboratory is to provide reliable measurements of such pollutants at minimal cost to individuals and small municipalities.  Another purpose of the laboratory is to develop new methods for detecting such contaminants.  Our laboratory will also have the capacity to measure contaminants in water-impacted receptors (e.g., fish tissue).

For additional information about Auburn’s interdisciplinary, advanced water quality laboratory, contact: Mike Kensler at (334) 844-5021 or at mdk0003@auburn.edu.