Dr. Gunnar Boysen is leading a project on water quality in collaboration with colleagues at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) and Harding University. The educational goal is to train the next generation of science-educated health professionals by building a team of undergraduate students that will study the water quality in their communities.
The scientific objective of this project is to collect, map, and analyze water samples across the state of Arkansas to identify and quantify man-made contaminants of emerging concern in Arkansas water systems.
The rationale for the proposed research is that low level contamination of water by pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and PFAS is a threat to the health of Arkansas wildlife and residents.
Dr. Boysen is studying PFAS by LC-MS, Dr. Sara Hubbard and her students at OBU is studying pesticides by GC-MS, and Dr. Amie Murphy and her students at Harding are studying pharmaceuticals by LC-MS.
The project’s recruitment goal is to have 5 areas, each testing open water systems and publicly available tap water.
This research is funded by the Arkansas Water Resources Center at the University of Arkansas.
