EPA Research Updates
Human activities such as road salt application, mining and oil production, and fertilizer application can lead to increasing freshwater salinization. EPA researchers are working to understand the magnitude, scale, and scope of freshwater salinization, which can harm aquatic life, pollute drinking water sources, and damage infrastructure.
Many fish species have returned to the Penobscot river after a long effort to restore the river's fisheries. However, with the return of the fish came the concern of whether they carry contaminants that may pose various health concerns to tribal members and wildlife. EPA researchers worked with the Penobscot Indian Nation and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to gain a better understanding of the contaminant levels in fish that return to the river each year to spawn.
Drug-contaminated buildings pose a threat to public health, threaten community revitalization efforts, and pose challenges for federal, state, local, and tribal governments and first responders. EPA researchers investigated methods to degrade fentanyl safely by determining what effective and efficient mechanisms exist to clean an area contaminated with fentanyl and whether such technologies can also be used for decontamination of personal protective equipment materials used during emergency responses.
Children’s behavior and biology can make them more vulnerable to pollutants than adults. And children living in agricultural communities may face unique exposures. Apply now for EPA research funding to investigate this issue and help us protect children’s health. Applications are due January 11.
Chemicals in the environment are often present as mixtures in air, water, soil, food, and products in commerce. EPA awarded $7M in research grant funding to 11 institutions to develop and evaluate innovative methods and approaches to inform our understanding of the human health risks that may result from exposure to chemical mixtures in the environment.
Meet Our Researchers
Meet EPA Researcher Jenny Paul, Ph.D.
Jenny Paul is a benthic ecologist meaning she studies life at the bottom of a body of water. Jenny works with invertebrates that live in soft sediments of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Her team uses benthic invertebrates as bioindicators because they can tell us a lot about the habitat conditions of where they live. As such, they are an integral component of most aquatic monitoring programs like the EPA’s national aquatic resources survey (NARS). Learn more about her work.
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