Scientists have discovered a unique idea to test waterways for sewage pollution and it involves feminine hygiene products. This method isn't only efficient but is also cheaper than the traditional conductivity and temperature meter technique.

A team of researchers from the U.K. placed tampons tied to bamboo poles in 16 surface water sewers and left them for a period of three days to detect the presence of gray water contamination produced by laundry system runoff.

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After making the tampons run thru these sewage systems, scientists tested the tampons under a black light to detect if they absorbed optical brighteners or fluorescent whiteners derived from detergent additives. When these chemicals are present in the tampons, the white tampons glowed brighter under the black light.

David Lerner from the environmental engineering of the University of Sheffield said people will look at you strangely if you tell them you're using tampons to test for sewage pollution. Lerner also adds using tampons is also cheap and easy, detective work.

Researchers noted that more traditional methods to monitor wastewater pollution include using fiber optic cables and spectrophotometers. Not only are these costly, they also require training and obviously costs more than a box of tampons.

Since this method is now proven to be effective, the team is planning to present this to local community groups to monitor their own waterways. These efforts can trace sources of pollution and hopefully reveal unwanted sources whose ownerrs could be ordered by local law makers to clean up these polluted regions.

During the study, scientists still had to deal with well-meaning residents that removed the tampons from the poles, and that thought they were obscene or some sort of vandalism.

Apart from tying the tampons to poles, the scientists dropped the tampons in contaminated pipelines and networks in manholes along urban roads and streets. This type of water pollution is often caused by housing pipes not properly connected to sewers and it escapes into storm water systems.

This study was published in the Water and Environment Journal.

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