NEW YORK: Researchers are tapping a well-known female hygiene product as a way to test waterways for sewage pollution. Not only does it work well but it’s also far cheaper than the typical conductivity and temperature meter approach.
A UK research team placed tampons, tied to bamboo poles, in 16 surface water sewers and left them in place for three days to test for the presence of gray water contamination from laundry system runoff.
Scientists then tested the tampons under a black light to determine if the tampons had absorbed optical brighteners, or fluorescent whiteners, which are detergent additives. If absorbed, the white tampons glow bright under a black light.
“You do get people looking at you strangely, but the tampon is not that obvious,” said Professor David Lerner, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Sheffield.
“It’s cheap, it’s easy and it does the detective work,” added Lerner, who co-authored a study on the new water pollution tracking strategy. The study was published on March 30 in the Water and Environment Journal.
Traditional methods for monitoring wastewater pollution is through fiber optic cables and spectrophotometers, which require training to use and run much higher in cost than boxes of tampons, noted the researchers.
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