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Dr Louis Schipper
- Position:
- Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
- Field:
- Effects of land treatment of wastes
- Organisation:
- University of Waikato
Dr Louis Schipper is the inaugural recipient of the Kudo for Environmental Science, sponsored by Environment Waikato.
Dr Schipper developed the concept of denitrification walls for removing nitrate from shallow groundwater. This work led to the development of denitrification beds for treating a range of effluent streams. When sized appropriately, denitrification beds and walls can achieve 100 percent removal of nitrate without active maintenance, something no other simple technology has yet to achieve.
Beds are currently in use for treating effluent from subdivisions at Lake Taupo and to treat effluent from dairy farms, glasshouses and streams. His work has also inspired research on denitrification walls in the USA, Western Australia and the UK.
Dr Schipper has also developed the concept of nitrogen saturation of soil, demonstrating that many New Zealand soils are reaching their maximum storage capacity. Leading a team at Landcare Research, he also demonstrated that both soil carbon and nitrogen were being lost from pasture soils. This work initiated research by a national team of experts examining potential reasons for these losses and the development of mitigation strategies.
A further major contribution to environmental science has been Dr Schipper’s research into the effects of land treatment of wastes. His extensive research has demonstrated that there are no adverse effects of effluent application to soil quality.
Follow this link to the Kudos website to see the 2007 Award winners: www.thekudos.org.nz/2007winners.html
This article is based on information current in 2008.
