Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water

PA communities begin efforts to keep pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP) out of our drinking water resources through local collection events.

AP began running a series of articles recently (March 10, 2008) about Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water which hit the airwaves across the country:

This information is not new to scientists nor those in the water field. Europeans have been studying the issue for the past decade. WREN has been tracking and publicizing the issue for years.

The Federal Government came out with Federal Guidelines for Disposal of Prescription Drugs in February 2007; they are available at
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
drugfact/factsht/proper_disposal.html They recommend mixing drugs with kitty litter or coffee grounds and putting them in an inconspicuous container like orange juice cartons, etc. and then putting in the trash.

Since sewage disposal is often rudimentary in many parts of Pennsylvania, and many communities continue to directly discharge untreated sewage directly to water bodies, it should come as no surprise that the compounds we excrete and flush obey the laws of physics and are showing up in water sources, albeit at minute levels (ppm and ppb). A combination of additional research, stewardship and policy-making are needed.

At the moment, pharmacies are NOT allowed to accept back controlled substances (narcotics) per the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Controlled Substances Act, which currently prevails. Therefore, any return or collection program must deal with the issue that no one, except a law enforcement officer is permitted to have a controlled substance in his/her possession if it has been prescribed for a different person.

Current regulations require that one-time collection programs require a police officer on-site if controlled substances will be collected. The "post-office" type collection boxes are not allowed to include controlled substances, and not many consumers may be aware of the distinction; nor can any mail-back programs except in Maine through the Maine DEA. A number of states are exploring the options.

WREN Water Policy News Winter 2007 Issue feature article: Endochrochrine Disruptors: What's the Buzz

WREN featured USGS Scientist Dr. Kent Crawford as a speaker at our 2007 WREN Conference discussing a PADEP funded study on the topic:

This article is posted here with permission from Water Resources IMPACT , Volume 9, Number 3 (Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.). This issue focuses on an area of growing concern for water resources professionals: emerging contaminants of concern in the environment.

Feb 25, 2008 Edition of Chemical and Engineering News had a couple good articles on the Pharms in Water story:

After several years in development, EPA signed a final groundwater regulation on October 11, 2006. This regulation applies to more than 47,000 public water systems that use ground water for their drinking water supplies and addresses exposure to fecal contamination. The regulation includes requirements for sanitary surveys of ground water systems; source water monitoring and corrective actions to ensure the requirements of the rule are met. For more information on the Ground Water Rule and drinking water, click on the link below.

United States Geologic Survey has created a new website to focus on emerging water-quality issues that will be used to design and improve water-quality monitoring and assessment programs of the USGS and others, and for proactive decision-making by industry, regulators, the research community, and the public. For many contaminants, public health experts have incomplete understandings of their toxicological significance (particularly effects of long-term exposures at low-levels). The need to understand the processes controlling contaminant transport and fate in the environment, and the lack of knowledge of the significance of long-term exposures has increased the need to study environmental occurrence down to trace levels. Furthermore, the possibility that environmental contaminants may interact synergistically or antagonistically has increased the need to define the complex mixtures of chemicals that are found in our waters.

"Emerging" Contaminants in U.S. Water Supplies Part 1 - A new kind of pollution? By Roland Wall, Science Writer, Environmental Associates

Not your father's polluters: The innocuous items pictured to the left all have the potential to end up in the water supply.

Emerging Contaminants

Pharms in Drinking Water