Hard to believe, but in the early 20th Century, the general public failed to understand that drinking the same water where you dumped yourwaste was causing severe human suffering. In 1895, the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), founded and established in the Department ofChemistry at the University of Illinois, was tasked with the responsibility of testing the waters of Illinois for water-bornediseases. This intensewater sampling by Dr. Arthur W. Palmer evolved into Illinois' first inventory of municipal groundwater supplies in the 1930s. The data collectedin those first 10 years were the basis for sanitary and public health reform, as well as the science of aquatic ecology. To this day, the ISWS stillanalyzes Illinois residential water samples. Over the 125-yearhistory, the ISWS has been at the forefront of many firsts and contributed tohydrologic and climate concepts still used nationally and internationally today. Here are just a few:1. Pipe corrosion problems lead to the development of water-softeningprocesses.2. ISWS and University of Illinois chemists worked on World War II chemical warfare agent detection and removal in water.
展开▼
