Sludge Watch ==> Report: Milwaukee drinking water contaminated with pharmaceuticals

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

As Helane Sheilds points out:

Milwaukee admits POTWs don't remove pharmaceuticals from sewage - and EPA, 
et al, say sewage sludge biosolids is source of pharmaceuticals applied to 
land . . . .

"Despite several layers of sewage treatment before, some of that water makes 
its way back to our taps. Most water treatment facilities can't get rid of 
all of the drug residue"

"MMSD [Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District] said that it was aware then 
that research was showing that drugs were making their way through the 
filtration, which MMSD said was never designed to remove pharmaceuticals. "

The pharmaceuticals are in the wastewater effluents discharged from the 
plant, and is found in land applied sludges.  It is making its way back to 
municipal drinking water.
..........................................................

http://www.wisn.com:80/health/15554754/detail.html
City: Milwaukee's Drinking Water Safe

POSTED: 12:21 pm CDT March 10, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- A new report puts Milwaukee on a list of cities whose drinking 
water is contaminated with pharmaceuticals.

The report said the amounts are tiny, but their impact is largely unknown.

Milwaukee boosted confidence in its drinking water with a huge investment in 
water treatment following the 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak.


But an Associated Press report still found a trace amount of the chemical 
cotinine, a byproduct of smoking cigarettes. But the city maintains that was 
in treated water before it became drinking water, not after.

In Philadelphia, 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in their 
drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection and mental illness.

In San Francisco, sex hormones were detected.

How are the drugs getting there? Scientists said when people take pills, 
their bodies don't absorb all of the medication and it passes through.

"Despite several layers of sewage treatment before, some of that water makes 
its way back to our taps. Most water treatment facilities can't get rid of 
all of the drug residue. Besides that, for years, the standing wisdom for 
disposing of unwanted prescriptions, has been to flush them down the toilet. 
That has now changed," WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr said.

"Now people are really able to see what happens with the system and how they 
can help," Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin 
Shafer said.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) started an annual 
medicine collection day two years ago.

MMSD said that it aware then that research was showing that drugs were 
making their way through the filtration, which MMSD said was never designed 
to remove pharmaceuticals.

"More and more it's going to become an issue as we see more trace amounts 
appearing, and it is something that a lot of the research around the United 
States is looking at -- trying to find ways to remove these medicines or 
pharmaceuticals as we go through the treatment process," Shafer said.

While the report is prompting calls for new testing and analysis of the 
effects of low doses of pharmaceuticals, water utilities nationwide -- and 
in Milwaukee -- insist their water is safe.

"We're not required to test for them, but the reason that we do is we want 
to make sure Milwaukee's water is safe and healthy at all times. We want to 
know as much as we can about the quality of that water," said Carrie Lewis 
of Milwaukee Water Works.

Most major cities don't test for pharmaceuticals at all. Those that do test 
usually for just one or two. Milwaukee tests for 73 pharmaceuticals. And it 
said none of them was found in the city's most recent tests of tap water.

For information about a medicine collection day in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, 
Racine and Washington counties, click here.

**********************************************************************************************

Basic Information | Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products ... This 
drawing shows some of the contributions of sewage, biosolids and farms ... 
and into aquatic environments via sewage, treated sewage sludge (biosolids), 
...
www.epa.gov/ppcp/basic2.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this


Pharmwaste] EPA SURVEY TO GIVE OVERVIEW OF PHARMACEUTICALS IN ... EPA SURVEY 
TO GIVE OVERVIEW OF PHARMACEUTICALS IN SEWAGE SLUDGE ... Biosolids and 
sludge are the solid residuals that result from the wastewater treatment ...
lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/2007-April/001062.html - 11k -
http://jeq.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/34/1/91
Each year, large quantities of pharmaceuticals and personal care products 
(PPCPs) are used worldwide. Once conveyed to wastewater treatment plants, 
PPCPs can remain unchanged or undergo partial or complete transformation 
during wastewater treatment processes before discharge into the environment 
via effluent and biosolids for land application. Biosolids can be a major 
sink for some PPCPs.


********************************************************
EPA
http://www.clu-in.org/download/misc/Daughton_Abstract.pdf
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment:
Overview of Sources, Concerns, and Solutions
Christian G. Daughton, Ph.D.
Chief, Environmental Chemistry Branch, Environmental Sciences Division,
National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119
daughton.christian at epa.gov
Pharmaceuticals comprise a large, diverse array of contaminants that can 
enter the environment from the
combined activities, actions, and behaviors of multitudes of individuals as 
well as from veterinary and
agricultural use 
(http://epa.gov/nerlesd1/chemistry/pharma/images/drawing.pdf). Excretion, 
bathing, and disposal of
leftover medications are the three primary routes of release from human 
activities. As trace environmental
contaminants in waters, sediments, and sewage sludge, they are largely 
unregulated in the U.S. The
concentrations of individual active ingredients in environmental samples 
such as surface waters often
range from parts-per-billion to parts-per-trillion — micrograms to nanograms 
per liter. Multiple active
ingredients, however, frequently occur together. The total, combined levels 
of these substances in a given
environmental sample can be 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than their 
individual levels in waters, or up to
the mg/kg level in treated sewage sludge ("biosolids," which is often 
disposed via application to land