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Clemson University students win international
environmental competition
Two Clemson University students have developed a cost-effective,
energy-efficient method to remove arsenic from drinking water in
rural, isolated communities. With their research, they competed
with 42 teams from Canada, Hungary, Mexico and the United States
at the 16th Annual WERC (Waste management, Education and Research
Consortium) International Environmental Design Contest in Las Cruces,
N.M. Their research won the Oak Ridge Associated Universities 2006
Environmental Improvement Realization Award for Achievement and
Technical Communication, one of the two top awards.
Brian Pool, a first-year graduate student in environmental
engineering and science, and Will Vining, a senior
chemical engineering major, developed and demonstrated a method
to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water to acceptable levels.
Environmental engineering professor and team advisor Jim Navratil
says the system is designed to be implemented into a new system
or added into existing New Mexico rural water treatment systems,
which have a high rate of arsenic levels.
“This contest is real life experience for these students.
They produced a system designed to be put into practice now. This
is what they’d be doing in industry,” said Navratil.
Navratil received the 2006 Lifetime Faculty Achievement Award at
the competition for his commitment to waste management and environmental
education and research.
Clemson’s winning team: (left to right) Brian Pool is a first-year
master’s student focusing on radiochemistry, Will Vining is
a senior chemical engineering student, and Jim Navratil is a professor
in Clemson University’s environmental engineering and science
department.
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