Bioremediation
Microbes play an important role in every ecosystem. Without their constant
work, an ecosystem would cease to function and die. Besides keeping it
healthy, microbes can also repair a damaged ecosystem, consuming foreign
and harmful substances and replacing them with beneficial byproducts.
Terry
Hazen is a scientist using nature to cure itself. He is an expert in bioremediation
-- the use of microbes to clean up contamination.
One of his projects was the federal government's 310-square-mile Savannah
River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. SRS is one of the most polluted tracts
of land in the United States. At the site, radioactive materials for America's
nuclear weapons were made for over four decades. Solvents used in the
process and stored in tanks were routinely transported through pipes buried
underground. The pipes developed leaks, and the solvents seeped underground.
Usually,
chlorinated solvents are very difficult to clean-up, but Hazen tried a
new tactic. He enlisted the help of microbe that is already available
in the soil. Methanotrophs, microbes which thrive in methane gas, naturally
consume contaminants, but they usually exist in small numbers. Hazen increased
the population of methanotrophs in the soil of SRS by pumping methane
gas through pipes leading to the contaminated soil. The microbe population
began to grow and biodegrade the contaminants in the soil.
When the soil is no longer contaminated, all Hazen has to do is stop
pumping the methane. The microbes die back to natural levels. It's an
effective but low tech solution.
Engineering Our Crops
Terry
Hazen is a scientist using nature to cure itself. He is an expert in bioremediation
-- the use of microbes to clean up contamination. 
Usually,
chlorinated solvents are very difficult to clean-up, but Hazen tried a
new tactic. He enlisted the help of microbe that is already available
in the soil. Methanotrophs, microbes which thrive in methane gas, naturally
consume contaminants, but they usually exist in small numbers. Hazen increased
the population of methanotrophs in the soil of SRS by pumping methane
gas through pipes leading to the contaminated soil. The microbe population
began to grow and biodegrade the contaminants in the soil.