A lack of funding has forced an OU research team to scale back its work on passive water-treatment systems in northeastern Oklahoma at the Tar Creek Superfund site.

The team is led by professor Robert Nairn, OU Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds director, and has already used a $6-million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to design and build the treatment system.

The system was completed in 2008, and the group returned to the site monthly for more research and maintenance, Nairn said.

Nairn’s team now visits the site four times a year.

Quarterly visitation is possible only through the use of systems implemented to automatically collect samples and data from the site, Nairn said.

“It isn’t as good; it doesn’t give us all the same information, but it gives us something,” he said.

The system utilizes no fossil fuels — just gravity — to purify water through the use of natural means similar to filtration through compost, Nairn said.

It is the first system of its kind in Oklahoma, Kansas or Missouri, but there are 500 to 600 passive water-treatment systems in the world, he said.

Nairn said his team is also working with the Grand River Dam Authority to test lake waters held back by the dam for pollution from the underground waters affecting the Tar Creek site.

Research is still being done on water quality changes, microbial activity and ecology in the Tar Creek area, according to the Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds website.

Students are able to take real-world experiences from study and research at Tar Creek, said Julie LaBar, environmental science graduate student and research team member.

“The installation of the passive-treatment system in Commerce has enhanced those real-world experiences by proving that student research does matter and has a very positive effect on both education and environmental stewardship,” LaBar said.

LaBar said she has learned more from work at Tar Creek than in many classes.

“Literally dozens of OU students have gained real-world, application-based experience as a result of class projects, as well as group and individual research, at Tar Creek,” LaBar said.

The technologies used at Tar Creek can be applicable anywhere around the world where there is mining, as the technologies for other sites would be nearly the same, Nairn said.

Nairn’s next focus is taking his research abroad. The team will travel to South America to implement one of these systems in Bolivia, Nairn said.

In addition to Bolivian research, Nairn said he also is looking into using this technology for treatment of sewage water.