WATER
DETECTION AND ELIMINATION OF POLLUTANTS IN WATER
Pesticides, drug residues, household products, cosmetics, heavy metals and many other micropollutants are released into the water. These products have harmful consequences on human health and the environment (endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, …). They end up in the groundwater, where a lot of our drinking water comes from. Some of them are not eliminated by the treatment plants because they are present in too small quantities to be treated or failing to transit.
STUDY OF CONTAMINATION / DECONTAMINATION PROCESSES
The Beauce water table is the largest drinking water reserve in France but also one of the most contaminated by nitrates, mainly of agricultural origin. The study of the mechanisms governing the transfer of pollutants from soils to groundwater is still poorly understood. It is therefore necessary to better understand these phenomena of migration of water and contaminants towards the aquifer in order to improve and preserve the quality of the groundwater.
THE PLATFORMS CONCERNED
DECAP
DETECT AND ELIMINATE MICROPOLLUTANTS IN WATER
The DECAP platform, managed by the CNRS and the University of Orléans, aims to develop sensors to detect micropollutants (pesticides, drug residues, heavy metals) in water and to develop elimination processes.
PRIME
WATER MONITORING AND REMOVAL
PRIME platforms, managed by the BRGM, aim to identify and quantify soil, subsurface and groundwater pollution as well as to predict their potential impact on our environment in the short and medium term. PRIME also offers solutions to decontaminate polluted environments (hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, pesticides and heavy metals). PRIME allows the realization of small- and large-scale experiments, from a few kg or cm3 of soil to several tons or m3.
O-ZNS
PRESERVING BEAUCE’S WATER TABLE AND IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF GROUNDWATER
The O-ZNS platform, managed by ISTO, aims to understand how and how quickly water and contaminants flow from the ground surface to the water table. The location of the platform, near an agricultural plot in the town of Villamblain (45), allows for experiments in real conditions.
PESAa
AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES WITH LESS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
The aim of the PESAa platform, managed by INRA, is to quantify greenhouse gas emissions between agricultural soils and the atmosphere. It also analyzes the effect of precision irrigation practices on agricultural production and the environmental impacts of agriculture.
PESAt
FIGHT AGAINST THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT WITH PEATLANDS
Peatlands have stored 30% of the carbon accumulated in global soils. The PESAt platform, managed by the CNRS, measures peatland carbon fluxes to know if these systems still continue to store carbon, or if, under the influence of human activities and climate disruption, they release them in particular in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.
