Last week IISG and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) at the University of Illinois hosted a workshop for Illinois and Indiana teachers on pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment to help these teachers introduce or expand the issue of PPCPs into their classrooms.

The start of the workshop was not for the squeamish.

Teachers toured the Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District and saw — and smelled — firsthand how wastewater is treated. They then went to see how an ISTC lab is working on developing effective removal methods for PPCPs from wastewater.

Environmental Educator Kirsten Hope Walker finished off the day with activities from the new IISG curriculum,  The Medicine Chest, a series of lessons on the issues surrounding pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

“I get so sick of people just thinking science and biology is memorization,” said Donna Brayfield a high school biology teacher at Sacred Heart-Griffin in Springfield, Illinois with 35 years experience.

“Anything that’s real-world application, that’s the cool stuff!”

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Bruce Rabe, who is the laboratory supervisor at the Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District, speaks to the teachers in front of clean water being discharged into the Saline Branch drainage ditch. It takes about 14 hours for wastewater to make it through the treatment process before it is returned to the stream.

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Daniel Martin, a physics teacher from Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, looks at the screw pumps used for moving large quantities of water.

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John Scott, senior analytical chemist at ISTC, gives teachers a tour of his lab.

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Workshop teachers become students again as they participate in a lab activity from The Medicine Chest.

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Kirsten Hope Walker, IISG environmental educator, leads a workshop on The Medicine Chest.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension.

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📢 Show Your Support for Sea Grant! 📢Continued federal funding for Sea Grant in FY26 is crucial, and we need your help to demonstrate the nationwide support for these essential programs.🖊️ Sign the letter urging Congress to continue funding Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and all 34 state Sea Grant programs:🔗 https://forms.gle/7sPGHGyh8j8a7vfGA or link in bio
Exciting news! The call for sessions for the 2026 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference has been extended! We are excited to offer the opportunity to propose a speaker or panel session during the 2026 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference April 28-29.  The conference will feature traditional 15-minute presentations and a poster session on the latest in emerging contaminant research, policies, and outreach in the soil, water, and air.The deadline to propose a session is September 30, 2025.Learn more at go.illinois.edu/ecec or the link in bio
Stay safe and have fun this Fourth of July with these 5 water safety tips! Click the link in bio to learn more ways to keep yourself and others safe as you enjoy the Lake Michigan beaches this holiday.
Four science educators from Illinois and Indiana have been selected for the 2025 Shipboard Science Immersion on Lake Michigan July 7-13. The educators will spend a full week alongside researchers aboard the EPA research vessel Lake Guardian. Afterwards, they will bring Great Lakes science back to their classroom. Learn more and meet the four incredible teachers representing Illinois and Indiana at the link in bio.
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