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We Dipped Tampons Into Rivers For Science

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Want to find out if your local river is polluted with people’s old bathwater? Grab yourself a tampon and a UV lamp, and make like a scientist.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

Grey water is the stuff that comes out of your washing machine, shower, and dishwasher when they drain. It's not the absolute worst thing to pollute a river with, but it's not great either. It can contain a whole host of nasty things – from norovirus to disease-causing fungi.

It should be sent to a sewage facility for treatment, but sometimes it can end up in storm sewers instead. These sewers are designed to collect runoff rain and empty straight into rivers.

Grey water tends to contain optical brighteners thanks to laundry detergent, and they glow brightly under UV light. So if you dip a tampon into a river, put it under a UV lamp, and it glows, you know there are optical brighteners in the river that shouldn't be there.

Of course, when we heard about this we had to try it out for ourselves.

Of course, when we heard about this we had to try it out for ourselves.

Thomas W Phillips for BuzzFeed


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