Energy and the Earth Global Research 2009

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© Ben Klaus/iStockphoto

implementation of these processes in a modern water infrastructure,” Drewes said. Research partners include universities, drinking water and wastewater utilities, national laboratories and environmental consulting firms. In Colorado, Drewes works with the City of Aurora, which is implementing a new drinking water treatment plant that utilizes natural and advanced treatment processes. He works with water utilities in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona to promote groundwater recharge with recycled water. And in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Utah, he works with the oil and gas industry to promote beneficial use of produced water from operations in the Rocky Mountain region. In Australia, he collaborates with colleagues at the University of New South Wales and water utilities using membranebased treatment processes to recycle water for freshwater augmentation. Many Mines students and faculty members are involved in the research, including Mark Eberhart from chemistry and geochemistry and Drewes’ colleagues from environmental science and engineering, Tzahi Cath, John McCray, Pei Xu, Chris Higgins, John Spear and Robert Siegrist. Funding for the research comes from grants from the Water Research Foundation, WateReuse Foundation, Water Environment Research Foundation, Department of Energy (DOE), DOE/Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment; and industry support from Aqua-Aerobics Systems Inc., the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, and County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. Drewes is a National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council panelist, serving on the Assessing Water Reuse as a Means of Meeting Future Water Supply Needs committee. Last year, he earned the Outstanding Research Award from the Water Works Association’s Rocky Mountain section. Previously, he earned awards in Arizona and Germany.

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Colorado School of Mines

The Flatirons of Boulder, Colo., reflecting in a pond at dawn.

Energy

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