What has been done can be undone. We are not the ones to undo it. But, we can give you the number of someone who might be.

For a long time I have been interested in novel methods of reclaiming/reharnessing the end-products of industry, and imagining some better way of diminishing their ecological impact. The ideal solution, to me, had always seemed grounded in the discovery and implementation of some unique microorganism, which when set about to the task, would go ahead and just *eat* all of our waste material. The total bio-organism will eventually do the same thing, so why not circumvent the problematic time we humans would all be poisoned and dying in our own toxins by encouraging a symbiotic relationship?

It seems as though these hopes are no longer mirages on the horizon. Dr. John Coates and Dr. Laurie Achenbach, UC Berkeley, has worked on bioremediation strategies for controlled use of around 40 different species of bacteria able to metabolize ammonium perchlorate into oxygen and sodium chloride. There are still significant problems yet to be overcome with regard to the scale necessary to affect significantly groundwater supplies, but research continues.

On the ingeniously useful front, microbial fuel cell technology is being pursued, which manages to both clean wastewater, and produce electrical current as it does so. The ability of a simple microorganism to significantly offset the cost of running a sanitation facility may be crucial in coming years, as the problem of access to clean drinking water has worsened recently and by some accounts will continue to do so without significant effort to counteract current trends.

links: perchlorate-reducing bacteria: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Sep-01-Wed-2004/news/24634759.html
microbial fuel cells: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-02/ps-mfc022304.php
another one for microbial fuel cells: http://www.geobacter.org/research/microbial/