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Figure 2. Computer simulations allow for the prediction of
contaminant movement through soil. This can be used to help focus
remediation schemes and predict their effects. Credit: Jack Barnard.
Figure 3. Lysimeters allow researchers to test the quality of water
after it passes through contaminated soil. Credit: Jonathan Asquith.
Figure 1. Credit: Peter Swift.
Science and sustainability
The word ‘sustainability’ has been used so
frequently in the recent past that it has been
difficult to pin down exactly what it means,
especially in relation to science and technology.
Usually, if something is sustainable it will be
able to endure for some time and be useful for
generations to come. It also implies that there
will be a positive environmental impact. To
thoroughly address the problem of brownfield
land, a scientific understanding of how to
use resources that are already available in
intelligent new ways is needed. It has become
commonplace in modern society to regularly
dispose of potentially useful materials.
Some of the solutions to its longstanding
environmental problems may actually lie in
what it wastes. Ironically, a lesser known, yet
potentially effective method for remediating
contaminated brownfield land is in some of
the mineral wastes that are discarded from
the clean water industry known as Water
Treatment Residuals (WTRs).
Manganese, iron and aluminium oxides left
from filtration processes used to produce
clean drinking water have the potential to
decontaminate brownfield land cheaply and
effectively. Manganese oxide in particular
forms a large part of the soil’s natural defence
me