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April 2, 2008
Center Studies Solutions for Water Contamination
A multidisciplinary team is leading efforts to help both scientists and lawmakers develop more effective water law and policy.
Written by Leslie Cranford
In the midst of recent news that drinking water across the nation is riddled with traces of pharmaceuticals and other unsavory micropollutants, the School of Law’s Center for Water Law and Policy is already helping to find solutions to the problem.
The center is using a $450,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to research the long-term environmental impact of micropollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and formulate remedial strategies.
Information gathered from this study will be used to create a clearinghouse of information that will help scientists and lawmakers develop more effective water law and policy.
The study focuses on a wastewater land application site used by the city of Lubbock for more than 70 years. Gabriel Eckstein, law professor and director of the center, noted that this site is ideal for studying the long-term impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.
Researchers hope to get a better understanding of how micro-pollutants behave and what happens to them once they are introduced to an environment.
Eckstein is an internationally recognized expert in water law who works directly with the United Nations and other world bodies on water-related issues and laws. The center was founded in 2005 in response to the growing need for research on global water issues. The center focuses on addressing, analyzing and evaluating the many issues surrounding water availability and utilization, and formulating laws and regulations to support best practices in water conservation and management.
The center is part of Texas Tech’s Interdisciplinary Water Initiative. It is the only educational institution within a law school in the United States dedicated to the study, teaching and development of water law policy, with focus on legal and associated policy issues related to the use, allocation, management, regulation and protection of fresh water resources at all levels of civil society.
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Featured expert
Gabriel Eckstein, law professor and director of the School of Law's Center for Water Law and Policy, has considerable experience in environmental law, both in the United States and internationally.
Eckstein also directs the Web-based International Water Law Project, intended to compile and disseminate information on law, policy and related topics dealing with international water issues.
He currently serves as an advisor to the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on global groundwater issues, and has previously consulted the World Commission on Dams, Organization of American States, and U.S. Agency for International Development.