Erica Collins built a system to remove contaminated groundwater from under a laundry business.
For decades, it was routine for dry-cleaning operations to pour chemicals down the drain. Unfortunately, some of those chemicals ended up contaminating groundwater.
And that's what happened years ago at the Busy Bee laundry facility in Rolla, Mo. But, thanks to the efforts of Erica Collins and others, a comprehensive clean-up is under way.
Collins, a graduate student in at Missouri S&T, is from Kansas City. She installed a pump at the site to pull the contaminated water from the ground. The pump is powered by solar energy. Collins checks on it multiple times a day.
Reviewed 2013-01-24