Re: B12 in natural drinking water
From http://www.uga.edu/ugami/esapelo_handbook.html :
Quote:
When the Marine Institute was first considered, two questions were upper-most in the minds of the advisory committee; what were the water flow characteristics and what was the importance of the vast expanse of marsh? The early faculty appointments were chosen with these questions in mind. Robert Ragotzkie and Theodore Starr arrived in January 1954, fresh out of graduate school. They were followed by Lawrence Pomeroy in September 1954. Ragotzkie's role was that of hydrographer, studying water transport. Some time later a short post-doctoral appointment brought Richard Dugdale to Sapelo, where he worked with Ragotzkie on water flow and estuarine productivity questions. Starr was appointed as microbiologist to study the bacteria, and Pomeroy’s role was as a marine biologist, to study food webs and matters relating to nutrients in the saltmarsh and water column. Starr remained a year on the island, using the technique of measuring the amount of vitamin B12 in the water as an indicator of the capacity of the system to support the growth of algae. Further microbiological studies were undertaken by Paul Burkholder from the Bacteriology Department of U. Ga. in Athens, who encouraged the use of the island as a field site by students from the main campus.
Re: B12 in (natural drinking) water
Here's another source that confirms B12 in water:
http://www.eurekascience.com/news/ar...g-1-12-6-c.htm
Quote:
A fundamental process that has puzzled researchers for many years has been explained by UK scientists. Some simple plants that are crucial in maintaining the balance of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere require vitamin B12 to grow properly but it has been a mystery to scientists why some types needed external sources and others did not. Now researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Kent have discovered that half of all algae have a dependent but beneficial relationship with bacteria that make the vitamin for them.
The researchers, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), found that no algae have the necessary genes to produce vitamin B12. Those that do not require a supply are like higher plants; they have an alternative metabolic process that does not need the vitamin. However, algae that need vitamin B12 cannot make it themselves and must get it from somewhere else.
The scientists realized that the amount of vitamin B12 required to grow the types of algae that do need the vitamin in the laboratory is much higher than natural levels in the seas and rivers. They discovered that in the natural environment were bacteria that could supply the necessary vitamin B12 the algae needed. However, the relationship between the bacteria and algae was not one-way. The scientists found that the algae supported the bacteria by providing them with carbon from their own photosynthesis.
Dr Alison Smith, one of the research leaders at the University of Cambridge, said, "What these observations demonstrate is that, although algae live by harvesting the sun's energy through photosynthesis, many of them are like animals in that they need another organism to supply them with a vital nutrient. This has implications for how we consider the ecosystems in the world's oceans."
Re: Drugs in drinking water
if you request the info from them, are water companies bound to give you the info about whats in the water served to our area i wonder? presumably they test peroidically......interesting subject....i'm going to contact my water board to find out.
