The WERF Nutrient Challenge is a multi-year collaborative research initiative established in 2007 to develop and provide current information about wastewater treatment nutrients (specifically nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater), their characteristics, and bioavailability in aquatic environments to help regulators make informed decisions. The Nutrient Challenge will also provide data on nutrient removal so that treatment facilities can select sustainable, cost-effective methods and technologies to meet permit limits. To meet these goals, the Nutrient Challenge has teamed with a wide array of utilities, agencies, consultants, universities and other researchers and practitioners to collaborate on projects that advance these goals. The Nutrient Challenge is focusing on a different approach to collaborating and leveraging resources (financial and intellectual) on research projects by targeting existing projects and research that correspond with its goals and funding those aspects that the Nutrient Challenge identified as a priority. Because the Nutrient Challenge is focused on collaboration, outreach is an absolutely necessary component of its effectiveness. Through workshops, webinars, a web portal and online compendium, published papers, and conference lectures, the Nutrient Challenge is both presenting important new information, and soliciting new partnerships.

Tritium (3H) activities in the foliage of forest trees were found to reflect 3H activities in soil water along the perimeter of a retired low‐level radioactive waste disposal site. Spatial variability in foliage 3H activity clearly delineated patterns of 3H in soil water as deep as 3 m. Late summer increases in foliage 3H activity paralleled increases in soil water activity and also suggested greater uptake of water from deep reservoirs after surface soils had dried out. White and chestnut oak (Quercus alba L. and Q. prinus L.) dominated the study area and were good monitors of 3H, regardless of tree size. Spatial patterns of 3H in foliage of these species over a 5‐ha watershed were interpretable in terms of the local landscape and the probable pathways of movement of contaminated water originating on the disposal site. Results of this study suggest that trees and other deeply rooted plants may serve as simple and effective monitors of soil water contamination and may therefore be useful additions to permanent monitoring systems.

No abstract