Smart Water Quality Monitoring, Mitigation & Management

Welcome to Missouri Water Center!

Water is essential for all life forms.

To support a growing human population and protect ecosystems, society must maintain water quality at levels that meet specific requirements designated for different uses by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Water resources in Missouri come from surface water and groundwater.

Types of use include:

Municipal water supplies
Fire-fighting
Industrial uses
Wildlife

Power plant cooling
Agricultural uses
Recreational activities
Dilution and treatment of wastewater

Water in sufficient quantity and quality is also necessary to maintain ecosystems and associated services to society.

Missouri is known for amazing aquatic resources.

Maintaining the quality and quantity of our water resources remains a challenge. Non-point source pollution is an ongoing concern as some waterways have been designated as impaired under federal regulations. Water quality issues are mostly tied to manufacturing and mining activities, commercial and service industries, tourism, agriculture, and residential communities.

Mining for iron cases challenges with water quality.

Mining for lead, iron, and coal are notable in the state resulting in challenges with the management of mine tailings and drainage.

Because of several hazardous waste Superfund sites in the state, water contamination associated with hazardous waste persists as a concern for public health.

Another ongoing issue is how to effectively provide quality drinking water to the public, especially for those served by small public water systems in rural communities.

Providing quality drinking water to rural communities is a challenge.

Initially, the Missouri Water Center will address various water quality issues by advancing monitoring and high-frequency sensing capabilities.

Real-time data collection, coupled with objective, scientific analysis, will provide opportunities to address water quality in their infancy by detecting emerging problems and thereby allowing consideration of a wide array of management options. Future efforts will focus on developing new approaches for wastewater treatment and nutrient management and exploring cost-effective technologies to monitor and remove contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and others.

Featured Projects

Irrigation system design & management

Missouri Department of Agriculture, Specialty Crop Block Grant, PI- Dan Downing

Develop an Arsenic removal technology for Point-of-Use Water Treatment System

Access Business Group Intl, PI- Baolin Deng

CPS: Synergy: Collaborative Research: Cyber-Physical sensing, modeling, and control for large-scale wastewater reuse and algal biomass production

National Science Foundation, Co-PI- Baolin Deng

Hybrid filtration/AOP membrane process for point of use PFAS removal from drinking water

Environmental Protection Agency, PI- Maria Fidalgo

View all Projects

Stay In Touch

Add yourself to our email list to receive updates regarding the Missouri Water Center.