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For the third week in #WomensHistoryMonth we are highlighting Ruth Myrtle Patrick and her work on water pollution.

Ruth Myrtle Patrick was born in Kansas in 1907 to a lawyer with a love for botany. Her father gifted her with her first microscope at the age of 7, encouraging her to study botany and attend graduate school. During college, her summers were spent in the labs at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Patrick would receive her doctorate in botany from the University of Virginia in 1934.

Ruth Patrick struggled to find a university-based research job, so instead researched at the Academy of Natural Sciences while working as a volunteer curator. Patrick would not be put on the payroll for more than a decade. In 1946, at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she showed that diatoms (a type of algae that make their own silica armor) could be used to judge the health of water by determining which species of diatoms were found within it, since different species of diatoms could tolerate different amounts of pollution. The speech Patrick gave led to her being moved into a well-funded position at the Academy of Natural Sciences, where she and her team were able to study and discover that many forms of aquatic life could be used to monitor an ecosystem’s health. Patrick and her team would conclusively show the link (later dubbed the Patrick Principle) between biodiversity and stream health by 1949.

Over the course of her career Patrick would have many accomplishments. She invented the diatometer, which floated on water and carried microscope slides to collect diatoms. Ruth Patrick advised both President Johnson and President Reagan on water pollution and acid rain, and was the twelfth woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She was involved in the scientific discussions that lead to the Clean Water Act of 1972 due to her diatom research and the identification of pollutants.

Ruth Myrtle Patrick worked up until her death at the age of 105 in 2013. Patrick’s dedication to her research has had a massive impact on our environment today and will for many years to come.

Source and photo credit: Science History Institute (sciencehistory.org) ... See MoreSee Less

For the second week in #WomensHistoryMonth we want to highlight Ellen H. Swallows Richards and her impact on modern water-quality.

Born in Massachusetts (MA) in 1842, Ellen H. Swallow Richards entered Vassar College as a special student in 1868 with $300 she had saved. Drawn to chemistry, she was turned down by all industrial chemist positions she applied to upon her graduation from Vassar 2 years later. She became the first woman in America to be accepted by a scientific school when she was accepted as a special student at MIT.

Within 3 years, Richards received a second bachelor’s degree from MIT, and a master’s degree from Vassar. She had hopes of earning a Ph.D. but at the time MIT didn’t award doctorates to women. From 1873 to 1878, Richards taught chemistry without a salary or title. After getting married in 1875, she was able to further women’s scientific education at MIT by volunteering her services and $1,000 annually, which helped establish the Women’s Laboratory at MIT in 1876, though it closed in 1883 after MIT began regularly awarding undergraduate degrees to women. In 1879, Richards was credited as an assistant instructor in several area, but she still had no salary.

In 1884, the nation’s first laboratory of sanitary chemistry was opened at MIT with Richards being appointed as an instructor. In 1887, At the request of the MA State Board of Health (for which she served as the official water analyst from 1887-97 while also instructing at MIT), Richards and her assistants performed a water-quality survey on MA’s inland bodies of water, most of which had already been polluted with industrial waste and municipal sewage. The survey results led to the nation’s first state water-quality standards and the first modern municipal sewage treatment plant in Lowell, MA.

Ellen Swallow Richards pioneered sanitary engineering, even writing a sanitary engineering classic text. The samples Richards analyzed were the foundation for modern water-quality standards which protect our environment, including the source water for drinking water.

Source and photo credit: Science History Institute (sciencehistory.org)

#WomeninHistory #waterhistory #history ... See MoreSee Less

Daffodils are blooming and rain is falling. Spring is here and we are enjoying it's beauty throughout Hardin County. ... See MoreSee Less

March is #WomensHistoryMonth and each week this month we will be highlighting women in history who made an impact on the water industry. The first woman we are highlighting is Ruth Chickering Clusen.

Born in Wisconsin in 1922, Ruth Chickering Clusen worked as a teacher until she became president of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters (LWV) in 1962 and served until 1966. From 1966 to 1970, she was chairperson for the LWV National Committee on Water Resources, during that time (68-70) Clusen was also chairperson of the League's National Committee on Environmental Programs and Projects

In 1974, Clusen became president of the National League of Women Voters. While president of the LWV, she worked to assure that the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed. During her national LWV presidency, the League promoted a common-sense conservation measure which included advocating for recycling and educating communities about source separation of solid waste. Ruth Chickering Clusen also moderated the televised 1976 presidential campaign debates between President Gerald Ford and future President Jimmy Carter.

From 1978 to 1981, she was Assistant Secretary of Energy for the Environment in the Department of Energy under President Jimmy Carter. During Clusen's time as Assistant Secretary of Energy, she worked to develop and implement a strong National Energy Policy. In an interview later on in life, Clusen would note that her concerns about the environment, especially water pollution, were because of Green Bay's water quality problems.

The 1974 Safe Water Drinking Act that Clusen worked hard to get passed, is still in effect today (with amendments in 1986 and 1996) and ensures that public health is protected by regulating the nation's public drinking water supply. The SDWA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set, and enforce, national health-based standards for drinking water. The standards protect public health against both naturally-occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water. Ruth Chickering Clusen died in 2005 but the impacts she made on the water industry, along with environmental conservation as a whole, live on.

Source and photo credit: Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame (wchf.org) ... See MoreSee Less

Duct tape isn't just used up in space, it's also used underground on water pipes. Before installing new water lines, our crews duct tape tracer wires to the pipes. Tracer wires help accurately locate water lines after they've been buried underground. Knowing the exact location of water lines can prevent damage during future excavations. ... See MoreSee Less

Whether you are single or in a relationship, water will always be your valentine. Happy Valentine's Day! ... See MoreSee Less