Emphasis on treatment of waste
Lab seeks pollution solution
By CRAIG PARKER Kansan Staff Writer
An often heard complaint about the university these days is that it is not involved enough in actually solving community problems, that it is not "relevant."
But there is at least one group of people at KU, those in the C. L. Burt Environmental Health Laboratory, that are actively seeking feasible solutions to some of the problems that threaten modern technological man.
"We're an action-oriented group," said Ross E. McKinney, professor of civil engineering and director of the environmental health graduate program at KU. "We're strongly oriented towards solving problems and doing practical work."
McKINNEY SAID the laboratory is concerned with all aspects of pollution, but puts most of its research emphasis on water treatment techniques and solid waste disposal.
feel that we have a unique type of education to offer our students."
Recently the recipient of a $22,590 grant to study sewage treatment, McKinney said much of the research done at the lab is in this area.
"To do the kind of work we do, it's very helpful if a student has a background in both science and engineering," said McKinney. One of McKinney's special interests is in the area of biological waste treatment, which calls for knowledge of both biology and engineering.
"We are concerned with students doing lab work, then evaluating it in actual field practice," said McKinney. "There is one student here at the lab who works part time for the city of Lawrence on solid waste disposal problems. We are also involved in working with the Lawrence Water Treatment plant."
"ONE OF THE major problems we face is trying to get new ideas out to people." Mca small scale, say in some biological system, to larger systems," said McKinney.
Photo by Fred Chan
Photo by Fred Chan
'We hope to solve some problems'
"We have quite a few different grants from the government," said McKinney. "We have one from the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration to study bio-systems and their applications to solving pollution problems." McKinney said they also have a grant from a Kansas agency to study the removal of algae-producing nutrients from waste water.
"WE HAVE ABOUT 22 graduate students here, 16 of them at the Ph.D. level and six at the Masters level," said McKinney. "Four of these students are working on solid waste disposal and the rest are concerned with water pollution."
McKinney said he was glad the group was fairly small. This, he said, allowed them to work together easily and gave the faculty members more time to work with each student.
"WE ARE VERY proud of our program in environmental health research here," said McKinney. "Many of our students work together after they leave KU. We
Walter O'Brien, associate professor of civil engineering, and Carl Burkhead, associate professor of civil engineering, are the other staff members at the environmental health laboratory.
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"We try to get the students to build for themselves," said McKinney. One student is doing research on algae growth and has built much of the apparatus needed for the experiment.
Kinney said. "This is why I am such a firm believer in education. By educating young people, you can get your ideas out a lot faster."
McKinney emphasized that the laboratory tries to give the students practical experience as well as a theoretical background.
MOST OF THE analytical equipment in the laboratory is like that found in chemistry and biology labs and is used to study materials and organisms related to pollution and the solving of these problems.
McKinney recently received a patent for a unique waste treatment process he developed. "We hope eventually to refine this system to the point where we can make some money for the University through waste treatment operations.
"We try and emphasize the application of fundamentals on
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McKinney works with microorganisms to help ease pollution problems
AN EXPERIMENT McKinney is currently involved in is being performed on the roof of Learned Hall. Its purpose is to study the aerobic surface stabilization of paper and other refuse. The paper is ground up, mixed with different substances, and left out on the roof to be exposed to normal weather conditions.
"The most common way to get rid of refuse now is to bury it," said McKinney. "With that method, a disposal site is used up in a period of about five years. If we can get paper to decompose, through the use of micro-organisms and other techniques, we could make a disposal area useful for as long as 50 years."
The students and faculty at the Environmental Health Laboratory at KU are "action people" interested in eliminating problems that face an urban, industrial society today. Their work starts as a concept in the laboratory, but invariably ends up being applied to a practical solution.
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