Parents hope that their children will grow up to pursue work that changes the world for the better. But not every parent expects their child to move to a remote South American village 13,000 feet above sea level on the Altiplano to collect samples and measurements from a river, seeking to solve global water quality issues. That’s exactly what Edina native Kyle Simonson is doing in Chile.
Simonson is a 2011 graduate of Northwestern University, with a B.S. in environmental engineering and economics. He received a Fulbright research grant to study arsenic absorption along a stretch of the Lluta River in Chile. Since last February he has worked with professors from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in the capital city of Santiago.
“This is a region where arsenic has been a problem for a long time,” explains Simonson. “Some occurs naturally; some are manmade; some results from mining. There have been many signs of arsenic toxicity in mummified bodies dating way back. What I’m trying to understand, with the help of my Chilean professors, is how arsenic is stored in river sediment and how it reacts when combined with other chemicals found in water.”
“The region Kyle is studying, the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile, is the driest region on Earth, making any fresh water a scarce and precious resource,” says Professor Pablo Pastén González of Pontificia Universidad. Due to natural geologic conditions and in a few cases of legacy mining, water sources are contaminated with arsenic and other dissolved contaminants. Although major regional cities use a costly desalinization process to make safe drinking water, hundreds of people remain exposed to arsenic levels that greatly exceed World Health Organization recommendations.
Health problems associated with arsenic contamination are not limited to Chile’s extreme environments or to developing countries. Elevated levels of arsenic have been documented in many countries and ecologies, including some regions of the United States. An estimated 130 million people worldwide are exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water, prompting professor Allan H. Smith of the University of California-Berkeley to call it “the largest mass poisoning of a population in history.” Yet despite the gravity of the problem, many aspects of arsenic transport and remediation remain poorly understood.
“[This sort of] research is directly aiding our ongoing efforts to design intelligent, localized solutions,” Smith says. “We are in the process of analyzing his samples and drafting articles we hope to publish in scientific journals. In doing so, we are not only better equipped to solve water-quality issues specific to northern Chile, but to also increase the likelihood that the scientific community can develop better solutions to this worldwide phenomenon.”
Simonson says altruism isn’t the only motivation for his choice of research. “Part of the reason I chose to work in Chile,” he says, “is because I love the mountains, the ocean, backpacking, surfing, anything related to the outdoors. And this is one of the best places to do those things. I’m never more than three miles from the ocean. There is incredible ecological diversity here, from deserts to ice fields to rainforests. This is a great opportunity to conduct meaningful research as well as to gain some great travel experiences.
“Although Edina is my home and I do miss my family and our little dog, Roxy. I also miss hunting with my dad and biking around town. I wouldn’t say I miss Minnesota’s cold weather but I do love playing pond hockey at Arden Park. And I’m also looking forward to trying new beers from all those microbreweries popping up around town when I get back.”
With his research program deadline behind him, Simonson says graduate school is probably his next logical step. “Grad school seems to be the new college,” he says. “I’m not sure if I want to study business or more environmental engineering. My hope is to find a way to combine the two.
“Sometimes environmentalists want to keep the natural world separate from cities. But I’ve come to see that mining is beneficial to the economy here. I want to find ways to help do those things more efficiently, with less waste, less cost and less pollution. I also love working in places where people need to be resourceful, developing local solutions and getting my hands dirty.”
Simonson says his Spanish has progressed to a point where he feels comfortable staying in South America for a bit longer, with possible plans to travel elsewhere in the country and continent. “I came last February, during North American winter, then stayed through South America’s winter. I’m ready to experience summer.”
