Earth Day 2020: The history of Environmental Monitoring from Public Health to Climate Action

Earth Day, celebrated globally on April 22, developed to support environmental issues and promote world peace. The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. [1] 

Environmental monitoring provides the foundation for climate action by tracking changes in the air, water, and soil. The data generated from testing different parameters is used to determine the current state of the environment and make projections for the future. Building datasets that are robust across different geographical regions and long time spans requires consistent sampling, calibrated materials, and standardized analysis methods.[2] The technology for environmental monitoring has improved since the first Earth Day, advancing through basic sensory observations, to chemical analysis, to automated remote sensing.

The earliest fields of environmental monitoring had a direct relationship with human health. Before the advent of microscopic imaging and chemical detection, water quality was analyzed by the senses of sight, taste, and smell. The first water treatment methods, recorded as early as 4000 B.C.E, strived to improve the purity of drinking water. Early methods focused on reducing turbidity by filtration through cloth, sand, and aluminium sulfate. [3] Standardization of chemical and biological tests for water quality was a high priority for public health authorities, which drove innovation in filtration technology. By 1914, the slow sand filter, originally developed in the UK, had been largely replaced by the rapid sand filter or “American filter”. The rapid sand filter increased the speed of filtration by using chemical coagulation to increase the size of contaminant particles[4]. Filtration, one of the earliest techniques in water analysis, still plays a vital role in current methods for monitoring fresh and saline water sources today.

Water covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface, and data from water testing provides essential information about environmental change. Remote sensing gives real-time analysis of physical parameters including salinity, temperature, turbidity, chlorophyll content, and dissolved oxygen. Accurate quantification for other parameters including dissolved nitrogen, particulate carbon, and chemical contaminants requires filtered samples and ultrapure filtered reference materials. [5][6][7] Finally, advanced filtration technology has many applications in biological monitoring. Microbiological filter funnels and heat resistant borosilicate filters have revolutionized microbial analyses of waste-water and natural water sources. Nitrocellulose filters with pores smaller than 1 μm in diameter trap particles of environmental DNA (eDNA), allowing a metagenomic perspective of whole ecosystems.[8] Environmental monitoring initially informed public health practices and regulation. Today, the expansion of environmental testing and the emergence of new technologies are rising to meet the threats of climate change. By calling on the growing pool of data from global monitoring efforts to inform climate action, both policymakers and environmental activists can support the goals of Earth Day 2020.

 

References

  1. Earthday.org. (2020). Earth Day 2020 FAQ. Retrieved from https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/
  2. Günther, Radermacher, and Riekert. (1995). Environmental Monitoring: Models, Methods, and Systems. In: Avouris N.M., Page B. (eds) Environmental Informatics. EUROCOURSES (Computer and Information Science), vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1443-3_2 
  3. The History of Drinking Water Treatment (2002). United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/pdf/
  4. Gurian and Tarr. (2010). The origin of federal drinking water quality standards. Engineering History and Heritage. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1680/ehah.9.00009
  5. Bruckner. (2016). Measuring Dissolved and Particulate Organic Carbon (DOC and POC). Microbial Life: Education Resources. Retrieved from https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/biogeochemical/organic_carbon.html
  6. Nitrate, Nitrite and Dissolved Organic Nitrogen Protocols. Retrieved from http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/hot/protocols/chap7.html
  7. Kaserzon et al. (2017). Rapid screening and identification of chemical hazards in surface and drinking water using high resolution mass spectrometry and a case-control filter. Chemosphere. 182. Pages 656-664. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.05.071
  8. Thomsen and Willerslev. (2015). Environmental DNA - An emerging tool in conservation for monitoring past and present biodiversity. Biological Conservation. 183. Pages 4-18. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.019