Once early costs drop, the researchers believe this version could undercut current wastewater treatment plants.
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In some places, current technology for small, compact wastewater treatment plants has improved, offering advantages over larger, centralized systems.
For decades, discharges by wastewater treatment plants and land runoff have led to excessive levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in Long Island Sound.
The EPA wants to monitor municipal wastewater treatment plants that receive certain types of silicones to assess whether they cause any harm to the environment.
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"It signals to us that the source (of the caffeine) really isn't the high population centers, possibly because they are on wastewater treatment plants, " Granek told CNN.
The findings indicate that wastewater treatment plants are effective at removing caffeine from the water, but that high rainfall and combined sewer overflows flush the caffeine out to sea.
The impact of this tech domestically is substantial, but the real excitement is in the developing world, where wastewater treatment plants tend to be far and few between and electricity is seriously in need.
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After taking samples from 21 spots along the coast, researchers expected to find the most caffeine pollution in areas near wastewater treatment plants, large population centers or rivers and streams emptying into the ocean, said Elise Granek, assistant professor of Environmental Science and Management at Portland State.
As a result, some wastewater associated with shale gas is transported to treatment plants that are not properly equipped, the agency adds.
Every day four waste treatment plants feed more than 250 million gallons of nitrogen filled wastewater into the bay, a massive expanse of 20, 000 acres of water sitting where Brooklyn and Queens meet at their southernmost point.
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