Even decades after a mine closes, people in surrounding communities can face serious health risks from drinking contaminated water. Communities in BC’s North are particularly at risk of arsenic poisoning due to the legacy of gold and uranium mines, says University of Victoria civil engineer Heather Buckley.
Water is easily contaminated by arsenic and metals that leach out of rock and soil disturbed in the mining process. With no simple, quick or low-cost method for testing water, even short-term measures to address known problems typically end up delayed by weeks or even months until lab results are available.
Buckley is working on a solution. Her research aims to develop a low-cost test strip—along the lines of those used for glucose monitoring—that immediately identifies health-threatening levels of the most common contaminants from mining.
With a goal of creating a simple test strip that sells for a dollar or two, Buckley’s work not only envisages giving communities the power to test their water supply at any time and get immediate results, but to have direct access to the data they need to advocate for change or intervention.
Continue reading at University of Victoria.
Image via University of Victoria.