Studies Show How Land Use Can Impact Parasitic Infections and Control Hepatitis E
Eight years ago, the data and evidence indicated something but it was not certain. Recently though, Karrie Weber at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln did some experiments and found out that nitrate (which comes from both fertilizers and animal waste) helps uranium to go from underground to groundwater.
An important new study has revealed that some underground sources of drinking water in Nebraska contain high levels of uranium and nitrate. Both these substances, if consumed regularly in your drinking water, can be harmful to your kidneys. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) looks at the uranium content and sets a limit to how much is safe for people to consume.
According to Professor Weber, who works in the fields of biological and atmospheric sciences, most Nebraskans depend on groundwater as their drinking water, including those living in Lincoln. He also mentioned that high levels of uranium found in this water might present a problem since it could be potentially dangerous.
We already knew that some of the uranium in groundwater came from rocks below us. But a recent study showed that in certain areas, there was up to 89 times more uranium than what the EPA considers safe. This made Weber wonder if nitrate might be making it worse.
Weber and 12 other people wanted to see if their hypothesis was true, so they got 2 small cylindrical cores — about 2 inches in diameter filled with sediment — from a special place near Alda, Nebraska. This area had natural uranium in it and the water from that spot flows into the Platte River.
The scientists wanted to see if adding nitrate to the water affected how much uranium moves around. They needed to make sure not to mess up the uranium, sand, and living things that were already in the sample when they collected it. To do this, they tried their best to keep everything in its original state.
Once the cores were extracted, Weber and her team put them in special airtight tubes. They also made sure to fill these tubes with argon gas to take away all the oxygen. After that, they cool them down before cutting 15-inch sections from both of the cores. These sections were made up of sand and silt which contained a lot of uranium.
The team started by pouring silt into several columns. Then, they sent water through the columns like it would move in the ground. Sometimes this water contained nothing while other times they added nitrate or both nitrate and an inhibitor to stop microorganisms in the sediment from reacting.
When water had nitrate but no microbial inhibitor (a special substance), it was able to take away 85% of the uranium, which is much higher than when there was neither nitrate nor a microbial inhibitor (55%) or when there was nitrate and a microbial inhibitor (60%). This shows that both nitrate and microbes help move around uranium.
Certain microbes seem to help turn uranium, which is usually a solid, into something that can be dissolved in water. It starts with the bacteria in the sediment who release electrons and convert nitrate into nitrite. After that, the uranium nearby steals those electrons from the nitrite and turns it into a form of water-soluble liquid.
The scientists studied the DNA from samples collected from the ground and found out that several types of “microbes” were able to turn nitrate into nitrite. Normally, this happens in two very polluted places such as uranium mines or where nuclear waste is processed. But now, for the first time ever, it was discovered that this same process can take place in natural surroundings too.
When the project started, we thought that nitrate and uranium could be a possible source of contamination. But, our research has showed that it’s only true when nitrate reaches 10 parts per million or above according to the EPA – which is its threshold. Actually, nitrate doesn’t always have to be bad.
“When we looked back at what we wrote about before, it showed that there is a point where things can change. The most important thing to remember,” she said, “is to not have too much.”
Researchers just experimented to see how Nitrate affects Sedimentary Uranium. They wrote a report about these findings and published it in the Environmental Science & Technology magazine. The research was focused on a specific area called the western Tarim Basin and more particularly on Akto County. The experiment looked at groundwater quality and fluoride enrichment characteristics in this region.
We are studying how water affects certain places, like the Beishan Area and the lower reaches of Tarim River. We want to figure out how much shallow groundwater recharge occurs in Beishan Area with a method called environmental tracer chloride. Also, we’re researching how water transport processes from Populus euphratica effects natural vegetation’s ability to produce NPP (which is an important plant process) in the lower reaches of Tarim River. Plus, we are also looking into if ecological water conveyance there might result in changes in water depths.
1. Scientists have looked at whether marine natural products can help fight against malaria, leishmaniasis, and trypanosomiasis parasites.
2. They studied how schistosomiasis – a type of parasite – affects pre-schoolers in Assoni Village in Eastern Senegal over the past 12 years.
3. The team looked at what areas had urogenital schistosomiasis – another kind of parasite – and why it’s been common in certain parts of Tiko Health District (a semi-urban place) in the South West Region of Cameroon.
This passage is about two studies. The first study looks at how land use can have an impact on infections that are spread through parasites. The second one studies if it’s possible to control hepatitis E in Jiangsu Province, China.
