Eric Roy, Ph.D.
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ericroyphd.bsky.social
Eric Roy, Ph.D.
@ericroyphd.bsky.social
28 followers 67 following 18 posts
Science (mostly water).
Head of Science @heyculligan
Founder @Hydroviv (Acquired by @heyculligan)
Views are mine.
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Reposted by Eric Roy, Ph.D.
traqua.bsky.social
𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 '𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀' - the idea that when many people have free access to a shared, finite resource, they tend to overuse it.

By Marc Bierkens, professor at @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social, mapping global groundwater overuse.

erc.europa.eu/projects-sta...
Will we run out of groundwater?
Groundwater supplies half the world’s drinking water and irrigates a third of its crops, yet it is disappearing fast. How much can we still use before it is gone? ERC grantee Marc Bierkens is among th...
erc.europa.eu
November 14, 2025 at 8:17 AM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
It doesn't matter how remote/untouched your water supply is.... lead comes from the the pipes themselves

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/lead-contamination-found-hawaii-school-071349441.html

#lead #water #hawaii
Lead contamination found in Hawaii school water
Education officials are investigating lead contamination at Waiakea Intermediate School on the Big Island.
www.yahoo.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Municipalities oppose tightening standards for drinking water because it costs money to build the capability ... and no funds accompany the regs

I wish there was more pragmatic discussion about this.

Officials spark backlash with controversial plan for drinking water supply: 'Premature and irresponsible'
Detractors have noted the potential costs.
www.yahoo.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:32 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Been getting a lot of questions about arsenic in drinking water.  Particularly important if pregnant and drink water from a well.

https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/exposure-low-levels-arsenic-public-drinking-water-linked-lower-birthweight-preterm-birth

#arsenic #drinkingwater #water
Exposure to Low Levels of Arsenic in Public Drinking Water Linked to Lower Birthweight, Preterm Birth
This study examines how arsenic exposures below the EPA maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter may still affect pregnancy outcomes.
www.publichealth.columbia.edu
November 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Sea foam off NC coast had PFAS levels 1000x than surrounding seawater.  Obviously not all sea foam is this way, but wow! 

https://www.wunc.org/environment/2025-11-05/pfas-sea-foam-wilmington-residents-blood

#PFAS #Water #NorthCarolina
Two new studies find PFAS in sea foam and Wilmington residents’ blood
Two new recently published studies highlight the pervasiveness of PFAS. One study found PFAS in sea foam along the North Carolina coast. Another found PFAS in the blood of some Wilmington residents.
www.wunc.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
$4.9m for 60k people is average of ~$80 per impacted.  Some will get $2500, some ~$50

Sadly, a lot of folks are still buying bottled, when a proper filter would be MUCH cheaper

NJ residents to receive $4.9M settlement for PFAS contamination in drinking water | NJ Spotlight News
The case could become a template for other communities whose water has been contaminated with the chemicals
www.njspotlightnews.org
November 9, 2025 at 1:48 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Farmers whose fields had biosolids applied to them need relief. They were told that biosolids from water treatment plants were a green fertilizer before we understood PFAS.

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/11/sludge-is-used-as-fertilizer-across-wisconsin-how-much-is-tainted-by-pfas/

#PFAS #water
Sludge is used as fertilizer across Wisconsin. How much is tainted by PFAS? | Great Lakes Now
Sludge and septage are spread across around half a million acres statewide, but most of it has never been tested for PFAS.
www.greatlakesnow.org
November 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
We should give grace to orgs that used PFAS firefighting foams. Fire depts were told that they were safe. 

For years, FM played with fire in Glocester. Now, drinking wells have record levels of PFAS.
For years, an unlined landfill on FM's Glocester property may have been contaminating nearby wells with PFAS.
www.providencejournal.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
We need to accelerate our understanding of microplastics on health because there’s a massive reservoir of plastics in landfills that have been breaking down for up to 100 years.
esejournal.bsky.social Environmental Science and Ecotechnology @esejournal.bsky.social · Jun 25
How soon will #plastics buried in landfills re-enter Earth's carbon cycle? A groundbreaking study predicts that half of landfilled plastics will fragment into micro- and nanoplastics within 83-189 years. Dive into the research and its implications!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How soon will landfilled plastics integrate into the geological carbon cycle?
Approximately half of plastic waste ends up in landfills, where fragmentation leads to the leakage of microplastics, nanoplastics, and petrogenic carb…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Eric Roy, Ph.D.
ecoboffin.bsky.social
Just published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (@springernature.com)!

Our multi-agency team examined links between #PFAS in public drinking water and levels in people’s blood across #SouthernCalifornia.

#openAccess link ->
doi.org/10.1038/s413...
October 31, 2025 at 8:33 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Not a ton of studies track things from prenatal exposure to adulthood health outcomes.  This is one that does, and unfortunately it's not good news.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/prenatal-lead-exposure-tied-significant-risk-major-2025a1000u3q

#drinkingwater #water #lead
Prenatal Lead Exposure Tied to MDD Risk in Adulthood
Prenatal lead exposure is linked to a significantly increased risk for major depression in adulthood.
www.medscape.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:11 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Press release (so the claims should be taken with a pile of salt) but I'm happy to see private sector making progress on PFAS destruction tech before it is released into environment

BioLargo Cuts AEC PFAS Treatment Energy Use by >90%, Unlocking Commercial-Scale Water Solutions with Unmatched Total Life Cycle Cost Savings
WESTMINSTER, CA / ACCESS Newswire / November 3, 2025 / BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQX:BLGO), a cleantech innovator that develops and commercializes sustainable technologies, today announced a breakthrough upgrade to its patented Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator ...
finance.yahoo.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:05 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
$7.6m settlement to avoid $190m cleanup costs feels like a business decision 

CT Water receives $7.6M in PFAS contamination settlements; faces $190M in treatment costs
Connecticut Water Co. has received $7.6 million from manufacturers of “forever chemicals” as part of a massive nationwide lawsuit, its parent company, California-based H2O America, disclosed in its third-quarter earnings […]
hartfordbusiness.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:07 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
It's good to address PFOA/PFOS, but #PFAS is a category term that has over 10,000 compounds in it.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/03/drinking-water-inspectorate-ordered-action-over-forever-chemicals-risk

#PFAS #water
Drinking Water Inspectorate ordered action over ‘forever chemicals’ risk
Analysis finds regulator for England and Wales raised issues with untreated water at facilities serving millions
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Turns out, when PFAS are in water sources, they show up in people.

Associations between PFAS in public water system drinking water and serum among Southern California adults - Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology
Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology - Associations between PFAS in public water system drinking water and serum among Southern California adults
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:54 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Guardian has always done a good job with water quality coverage!  

Drinking Water Inspectorate ordered action over ‘forever chemicals’ risk
Analysis finds regulator for England and Wales raised issues with untreated water at facilities serving millions
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:13 AM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Can we please get editors some basic training on this?!
jeffreybrainard.bsky.social Jeffrey Brainard @jeffreybrainard.bsky.social · 10d
A rapidly growing share of letters to journals may be drafted by machines, undetected by editors. Study quantifies recently ‘prolific debutante authors’ who had published no letters before 2022, when ChatGPT debuted. #academicjournals #peerreview @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Letters to scientific journals surge as ‘prolific debutante’ authors likely use AI
New study reinforces worries about “mass production of junk” by unscrupulous scholars aiming to pad their CVs
www.science.org
November 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
ericroyphd.bsky.social
Whenever I need a slice of humble pie, I remind myself that in college (early 2000s) I learned that biosolids from water treatment plants were a free/green/safe fertilizer. PFAS was a blind spot

www.eenews.net/articles/epa...
EPA: Superfund cleanup ‘likely’ fouled Pennsylvania town’s water
Municipal sewage sludge was used as fertilizer in the project that began decades ago in Palmerton, where PFAS now taint soil and water.
www.eenews.net
November 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM