As water travels through its watershed, it picks up and absorbs much of what it encounters. This can include an array of water contaminants such as microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. These contaminants can impact aquatic and the creatures that live within them. For instance, fish can absorb these chemicals and pass them back into the people who eat them. The issue can be particularly acute in the Texas Coastal Bend region where so much water collects and so many source points of contamination reside. In this panel, we will discuss how researchers and managers at the Marine Science Institute and the City of Corpus Christi are working to shed light on the interplay between contaminants and aquatic ecosystems. The panel will also discuss techniques to trace contaminants' presence, their impacts on human and environmental health, and strategies for their mitigation.
Panelists include researchers at the UT Marine Science Institute, the UT Baker Marine Microbial Ecology laboratory, and Corpus Christi Water.