Drug waste poses threat to drinking water
Whitefish Pilot
Regulations to prevent contamination of public water systems by pharmaceutical waste could prove to be expensive, Whitefish city manager Chuck Stearns learned during a Dec. 10 meeting of the Flathead County Health Board.
"The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue of how pharmaceuticals get into surface water from wastewater treatment plants, when such items are flushed down toilets, and how they get into groundwater from disposal in landfills," he said. "Such studies will likely involve future regulation, especially in the area of our wastewater discharge permit, and addressing that problem may become very expensive."
Whitefish is fortunate in that its drinking water primarily comes from water that drains off Big Mountain and hasn't passed through developed areas (water is also pumped to the reservoir from Whitefish Lake). But treated effluent from its sewage treatment plant is discharged into the Whitefish River, where it is eventually 'recycled" by downstream communities.
The EPA has already added "pharmaceuticals and personal care products' (PPCPs' to its "Contaminant Candidate 3" list, but it could be 3-6 years before the chemicals have been evaluated to see if regulation is necessary. The EPA also plans to develop effluent limit guidelines for PPCPs.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality met to discuss PPCPs on Nov. 19. Dave Feldman, of DEQ's water quality division, said he helped write a funding proposal to gather PPCP data for the 2007 Legislature, but the funding request was denied.
The proposal called for sampling streams that receive effluent from wastewater treatment plants and analyzing the samples for 115 different organic wastewater compounds, including pharmaceutical, human and veterinary antibiotics, household and industrial-use chemicals, and hormone compounds.
PPCPs include everyday products such as prescription drugs, veterinary supplies, over-the-counter medications, cosmetics, fragrances, lotions and household or industrial chemicals. Studies show that 75 to 82 percent of the drugs found in wastewater treatment plants are attributable to human and animal "pass-through," rather than direct drug disposal as waste.
"PPCPs dissolve easily, don't evaporate at normal temperature and pressures, and can also attach to solid substances, such as soils and rocks," DEQ states. As a result, dumping sewage sludge on farm fields, as is done with pumped septics in the Flathead, or spraying treated wastewater on fields, as is done by Somers-Lakeside and Glacier National Park, "brings PPCPs into contact with the soil," DEQ states.
Most municipal wastewater treatment plants are not designed to treat PPCPs, which have been detected in extremely low concentrations. According to DEQ, "to date, research throughout the world has not demonstrated an impact on human health at the trace levels at which these chemicals have been found."
Studies in aquatic environments with a significant amount of wastewater "have shown impacts that can likely be attributed to PPCPs," DEQ says, 'such as fishes with both male and female reproductive organs and changes in ratios of male and female fish populations."
Most PPCP testing is currently research-oriented, and further research is needed to find technologies that can remove PPCPs from municipal wastewater. Carbon filters on household taps will remove some PPCPs, water softeners likely provide no beneficial effect, and reverse osmosis devices are considered the best at removing PPCPs.
"Very few laboratories in the world analyze for PPCPs," DEQ tells homeowners, "and the cost for analyzing one sample can be as high as approximately $1,000."
For now, people are asked to be careful about how they dispose of PPCPs. For more information, visit related links online at www.epa.gov and www.deq.state.mt.us.