Highlights

Arsenic Demonstration Site Meets Federal Standards
On April 23, state and federal officials joined citizens of Felton, Delaware, to celebrate cleaner water.

Sally Gutierrez, director of the National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL), and Tom Sorg, project director for the Arsenic Demonstration Program, were on hand to recognize that, as a result of the program, the town's water now meets federal arsenic standards.

In January 2006, the allowable amount of arsenic in drinking water was reduced from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10. Felton's water averaged 20 ppb. EPA selected the town as a demonstration site to test new arsenic removal technology and provided a grant to install the treatment system. As of April 2007, Felton's water averages 8 ppb.

NRMRL Paper Published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology
“Identification of DNA Markers for the Detection of Human Fecal Pollution in Water” was published in the April issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In the study, NRMRL scientists used a novel approach to selecting genetic markers that can be used for the development of host-specific assays. The publication will aid water professionals in determining the primary sources of fecal pollution in watersheds.

NRMRL Participates in Take Your Children to Work Day
NRMRL's Urban Watershed Management Branch of Water Supply and Water Resources Division participated in the Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day held in Edison, NJ on April 26, 2007.

The annual tour allows children to learn more about the in-house research facility. About 20 children attended this year's event.

U.S. Department of Labor Presents Secretary's Superior Performance Award
The Cincinnati chapter of the Federal Safety and Health Council was recently selected as the recipient of the U. S. Department of Labor’s Secretary's Superior Performance Award.

The Cincinnati Federal Safety and Heath Council, which covers a federal population greater than 20,000 employees, has been identified by the Secretary of Labor as a council that “exemplifies the purpose and objective of federal councils.” Through training, workshops, and presentations, the council has delivered information about occupational safety and health issues. Members of the council include Pat Clark, Program Director (NRMRL); J. R. Smith, Chairperson (Office of Administration and Resources Management [OARM]); and Teresa Miller, Committee Member (OARM).

Federal councils created at the local level provide a cooperative exchange of information and mutual assistance to federal establishments. The recognition presented to the Cincinnati Federal Safety and Health Council highlights its accomplishments and outreach activities toward promoting the advancement of safety and health in the federal workplace.

NRMRL Scientists Visit Former USSR
Raj Varma and Subhas Sikdar visited Kiev, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia, in April as part of their work on a project initiated by Sikdar under a NATO science program. The work was done in collaboration with the University of Oviedo, Spain, and Mendeleev University in Moscow.

Initial success of the chemistry to remove recalcitrant sulfur compounds from hydrocarbon fuels was achieved by Varma and Yuhong Ju of NRMRL's Clean Processes Branch. The project led to a proposal, entitled “Deep Desulfurization of Transportation Fuels,” for developing a chemical process and generating an understanding of the mechanism.

EPA's Office of Western Hemisphere and Bilateral Affairs has approved the new project on the “synthesis and evaluation of metal-immobilized porous mineral oxides as sorbents for deep desulfurization of transportation fuels.”This project is designed to develop a post-hydrodesulfurization (HDS) technology that will selectively remove, at relatively low cost, sulfur compounds that are not effectively removed by the HDS process.

Project partners include the Institute of Bioorganic and Petroleum Chemistry in Kiev, Ukraine, and the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Russia.

When developed, this technology will help EPA meet its objective of capping sulfur levels at 15 parts per million in highway diesel fuels beginning in June 2006.

The proposal has been approved by the agencies in Russia and Ukraine and by the U.S. Department of State, effective January 2007. The purpose of Varma and Sikdar's visit was to discuss and plan the research activities for this year.

NRMRL Scientist Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. John T. Wilson, a research microbiologist, received the Brown and Caldwell 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award in Baltimore on May 7.

Wilson, the third recipient of the annual award, was honored for his work in In Situ Microbiology and Remediation by a group of his peers and colleagues for setting the standard for excellence and clarity in the science of remediation.

The annual award was created by the Brown and Caldwell senior technical staff to honor pioneers and leaders in the environmental remediation field. Wilson was honored during Battelle's Ninth In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation Symposium reception.

Other NRMRL News
Dr. Rajender S. Varma (NRMRL) delivered an invited lecture entitled, “Application of Microwaves in the Benign Synthesis of Nanometals and Nanocomposites,” at the 5th International Microwaves in Chemistry Conference in London, England, April 18–20, 2007.

Kirk Scheckel (NRMRL) has been selected as Chair-Elect of the Soils and Environmental Quality Division of the Soil Science Society of America.

Randy Revetta, Jorge Santo Domingo, and Orin Shanks (NRMRL, Water Supply and Water Resources Division) presented research at the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting. The presentation included a study entitled, “Phylogenetic Analysis of 16S rRNA Gene Sequences Reveals the Prevalence of Mycobacteria sp., Alpha-Proteobacteria, and Uncultured Bacteria in Drinking Water Microbial Communities.” The meeting was held in Toronto on May 21–25.