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Dr. Joseph J. Salvo attended Phillips Andover Academy, received his A.B. degree from Harvard University and his Master and Ph.D. degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Dr. Salvo joined the GE Global Research Center in 1988. His early work focused on the development of genetically modified bacteria and fungus, for the production of novel high performance polymers. In the mid 1990's he turned his group's efforts towards developing large-scale internet-based sensing arrays to manage and oversee
business systems. Most recently, he and his team have developed a number of complex decision engines that deliver customer value through system transparency and knowledge-based computational algorithms. Commercial business implementations of his work are currently active in Europe, and Asia as well as North and South America.
Dr. Peter Tu received his undergraduate degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and his doctorate from Oxford University England.
In 1997, he joined the Visualization and Computer Vision Group at the GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. He has developed algorithms for the FBI Automatic Fingerprint Identification System. He is the principle investigator for the ReFace program, which has the goal of automatically computing the appearance of a person’s face from skeletal remains. Dr. Tu has also developed a number of algorithms for the precise measurement of specular and high curvature objects. His current focus is the development of intelligent video algorithms for surveillance applications.
This is the fifteenth daily question on the Collective Imagination blog.
Every day, respond to the question (or another commenter's answer) and you will be eligible to win a custom ScienceBlogs USB drive. We'll announce the previous day's winner in each daily question post.
Last week, we asked you when you thought individuals should have access to their family members' medical records. Most of you agreed that the legal standards in place now sufficiently cover the range of circumstances under which access should be allowed. But there are some gray areas: Should children between the ages of 13 and 17 be allowed to choose whether their parents can see their records? If individuals want to know whether a deceased relative was a carrier of breast cancer genes, do they have a right to find out?
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We'll be giving out USB drives daily through the end of March. To get your own, answer today's question in the comments below. In honor of World Water Day, we want to know about your water:
How available is clean drinking water where you live? Is the quality of your water a concern?
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Comments
Drinking water is controlled by each town/city in my area. My town supplies water from wells and it is treated, so it is clean but does not taste very good. We have a water cooler in the kitchen and have 3 gallon and 5 gallon bottles delivered. Most of that is used to make coffee :)
The city next door is on a river and has a treatment plant. That water is actually better than our town's well water. When we fill our swimming pool, we buy it from the city by tanker truck loads. It is crystal clear and PH neutral.
Posted by: NewEnglandBob | March 22, 2010 12:52 PM | Reply
Vancouver has a closed watershed filled by rain and snow, and a spanking new filtration plant, so our tap water is lovely.
Posted by: Rosie Redfield | March 22, 2010 1:15 PM | Reply
Saskatoon is a small-ish city on a medium-large river that drains a vast area, most of which is thoroughly agricultural. So I'd expect our incoming water quality to be OK, but not great. But we've got a filtration plant (I'm pretty sure, anyways), and I don't worry at all about the quality. Clean drinking water is very available.
Rosie, perhaps you should include "except when there are higher-than-average floods during spring melt". I was there during the great Starbucks closure. But perhaps that new filtration plant is a response to that event, and such things are no longer a worry.
Posted by: TheBrummell | March 22, 2010 1:33 PM | Reply
I've lived in a few places, and am currently on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Well water here can usually be consumed without issue, though there have been issues of contamination with pesticides and fertilizers in some communities.
Our well is as pure as you'll get.
In the Ontario cities I lived in, tap water was heavily chlorinated - in some places to the point where it was unpalatable. Without public utilities the availability of clean water would not exist there.
I've not encountered a shortage of clean water in any place, and compared to the conditions elsewhere in the world these minor quality issues aren't really worth mentioning.
Posted by: Mike Wagner | March 22, 2010 1:35 PM | Reply
I really have very little idea what the water quality is like here in Pa. I drink the tap water, it tastes fine, and I know I need fluoride for my little guy. I know we drain to the Chesapeake, and that the Chesapeake is really polluted and that the crabs are sad (thank you, Baltimore aquarium). But I think the water going *into* our houses is mostly clean, but industry downstream gets to it before it gets to the ocean. I think the water can get somewhat icky in the Susquehanna, but I'm also in spitting distance of three mile island, which I decided was probably not the best place to kayak about.
In Illinois, I knew a lot more about the water. First, even kids talked about the difference between "well water" (icky tasting! more variable quality) and "lake water" (from Lake Michigan; good clean stuff), and we went on a tour of the local treatment plant with girl scouts or school or something. Then, during my undergrad I worked in the state water survey library. I seem to remember a surprising amount of arsenic in the water in Champaign-Urbana, but mostly it was unremarkable.
I never really worry about this; although maybe I should.
Posted by: becca | March 22, 2010 1:50 PM | Reply
Not too bad. We get ours from a couple of small wells serving the development. Helps to run it through a filter but its drinkable.
A concern is the research lab that used to be a click away. They have been digging up discarded chemicals for decades and testing shows the ground in that area is contaminated. Evidently hazardous waste disposal was largely hauling it out into the woods behind the lab and dumping it into a hole.
Posted by: Art | March 22, 2010 1:58 PM | Reply
Water in Las Vegas is both scarce and of poor quality. As a result of feverish development earlier in the decade, the availability of water in the medium term (10 years out plus) is highly questionable. There is no aquifer to speak of; almost all of the water comes from Lake Mead and by virtue of interstate compacts, already allocated. Replacement ideas have focused on long distance pipeline transport from Northern Nevada ( an idea that recently received a very serious setback from the state supreme court; these "solutions" post huge energy costs and it's questionable whether the water will ever reach Las Vegas but instead be diverted to other planned communities. While the corporate culture, here, casinos, etc, are environmentally very responsible ( almost all recylce their water extensively), very little effort is made to impose conservation and recycling on residential customers. 78% of the Valley's water goes to residential uses and over 50% of the Valley's water is used to water lawns.
It's a disaster in the making.
Posted by: mike charlton | March 22, 2010 4:07 PM | Reply
Since moving to PA in 1997, my drinking water has been strictly from a well. Annual testing for quality is required by our township yearly. Home water treatment/purification systems are not required, but are common. We own a water softening system and an ultraviolet system to address possible bacterial issues. Our water tastes amazingly good. What most of us really don't think about is the availability. I honestly do not know if our well, or any/all of the wells in this area are at risk. We just turn on the tap, and as long as there is power for the well pump, there is clean, clear water. I have no idea if wells have a lifespan, or what would happen if our well went dry. Furthermore, I have no idea how to get such information. Our plumber recently replaced the well pump, but had no knowledge on the condition of the actual well...
Posted by: debfrutiger | March 22, 2010 4:24 PM | Reply
I have well water from a well on my property. The only contaminate is Radium which is easily filtered to safe levels. When I was looking for a house, we ruled out all houses with city water and only looked at houses with a well on the property.
Posted by: Mike | March 22, 2010 4:51 PM | Reply
Getting clean drinking water isn't a problem in Germany, you open the tap and there you are. If you have your own well, the water has to be tested once a year.
We really tend to forget how much of a luxury clean water is.
Posted by: Monika | March 22, 2010 5:25 PM | Reply
My drinking water is much better than that in third world countries so I am not going to complain : )
Posted by: Annette Saccoccio | March 22, 2010 5:28 PM | Reply
We have municipally treated well-water. In dry times, we're aware the aquifer is running lower and lower. We have clean water available -- for now.
Posted by: Beth | March 22, 2010 6:44 PM | Reply
Vancouver, Washington USA
Local water supply is all drawn from wells and is
consistently excellent. No taste, no smell, no aftertaste.
Posted by: Rik Chandler | March 22, 2010 7:15 PM | Reply
Our water comes from municipal walls and tastes fresh and clean. But after attending a lecture the other night by Tyrone Hayes (in which he chronicled the levels of atrazine in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana) I can't help wondering.
Posted by: george.w | March 22, 2010 10:10 PM | Reply
Minneapolis has fine drinking water.on a 1 to 10 i would say 9. the water come from lakes and thru a filter system so in spring and late summer it gets a "lake" taste.some years ago i lived in a small village with my own well down into 85 feet of sandstone.i really miss the cold fresh taste i had there.
the best drinking water i ever had was in the lakes of the wilderness canoe park up north,BWCA,i don't know what there is about it but it's the most satisfying drink of water i every had.
Posted by: Dave | March 22, 2010 10:44 PM | Reply
Our water comes from the Providence Water Supply Board's reservoirs in Scituate, RI. It's a good sized protected watershed.
Best water in the state. It was better before they had the chlorinate it to keep up with requirements. Prior to that they didn't chlorinate and it was great water.
Posted by: Tony P | March 22, 2010 10:48 PM | Reply
I live in rural Thailand. Our water - as with most people in the village - comes from a local guy who runs some kind of purifier and delivers crates of the water, suitably bottled, to us. What's in it and how pure is it? I'd rather not know thanks very much but, that said, I've been here for years and never had any problems.
Posted by: Lampang | March 23, 2010 4:06 AM | Reply
I live in Toledo Spain. The tap water is good, and there is no problems with the supply, specially because we have a lot of rain last february.
Posted by: El | March 23, 2010 8:08 AM | Reply
We're on a well. When we first moved in, the water was so acidic that it was eating into our pipes and water heater. Our toilets were covered in stains within a month. Now that we have a quality chemical treatment system, we have no more issues.
Posted by: Jim Ernst | March 23, 2010 8:30 AM | Reply
@ TheBrummell:
Vancouver's new filtration plant is indeed partly a response to the organic particulates that our water used to contain after heavy rainfalls and mudslides in the watershed. Neutralizing these used to require a lot of chlorine. But now our water is so clean that the bathwater looks blue!
Posted by: R | March 24, 2010 12:59 AM | Reply