Questioning Water Safety :: Environmental and Health Concerns

> Environmental and Health Concerns > Water Pollution

Questioning Water Safety
by author Rick de Vries

Studies undertaken in Europe, the United States and Canada have detected a wide range of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in surface water, groundwater and even drinking water systems. PPCPs are basically all drugs such as antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, narcotics, painkillers and tranquilizers. They also include oral contraceptives, antiseptics, fragrances, shampoos, sunscreens, insect repellents, food supplements, caffeine and nicotine, to name a few.

There are several ways this form of water contamination occurs. When you take a drug, a large percentage of it passes through the body unchanged. The body also converts some of that drug into other compounds called metabolites, which may be even more bioactive than the original drug. The combined result is excreted through urine and feces and ultimately ends up in waste treatment plants along with other personal care products that have been washed off the body. Most treatment plants are unable to remove PPCPs, so they pass into either surface waters (from the liquid portion) or groundwater (from the solid waste portion). Runoff from farm animal operations also contributes a significant amount of PPCPs to the environment, as do hospital discharges and the aquaculture industry.

The range of contaminants is staggering. German researchers have found up to 60 different drugs in their water samples. In their 30-state water sampling, the US Geological Survey has found 31 kinds of antibiotics and antibacterial chemicals, as well as a variety of hormones and birth control compounds.

We’re not talking just small amounts of chemicals either. Thousands of tonnes are released into water annually, which is similar to the amount of fertilizers used by the agriculture industry. One startling example involves clofibric acid, a drug for reducing cholesterol levels. Estimates put the clofibric acid content in the North Sea at 43 to 66 tonnes, with an additional 50 to 100 tonnes flowing through every year!

Should We Be Concerned?

Yes. Little is known about how each component of this complex mix reacts with each other or the environment. There are simply too many chemicals to be able to predict what happens.

We don’t know the long-term effects on humans and aquatic ecosystems. Some effects could be profound and readily visible; however, others could be so subtle that they may not be detectable for years.

At present, we have a long list of questions rather than facts. Consider the PPCPs found in drinking water samples. What are the long-term effects of drinking this chemical mixture every day? Musk (a fragrance used in detergents and perfumes) is fat-soluble and therefore accumulates in the fatty tissues of fish. What are the long-term effects of eating this fish? A pregnant woman risks the health of her developing fetus when she ingests chemicals. What are the effects on the fetus from the consumption of PPCPs in food or drinking water?

Hormones have also been detected in water samples. Could their continual ingestion be the cause of decreased fertility, cancers and other diseases? Some studies have indicated this may indeed be the case. In addition, the increased appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a matter of great concern among health-care professionals. Could the significant levels of antibiotics in water systems be a contributing factor? Some researchers say it is possible. The answer to all of these questions above and many more is that we simply do not know.

What We Do Know

Generations of aquatic organisms have lived and continue to live in this chemical soup. For them, there is no escape. Toxic exposure is constant and even low concentrations of PPCPs can have very significant effects on many species. The following are some examples:

Synthetic estrogen in oral contraceptives can lead to the feminization of male fish and deformed sex organs in other species.
Antidepressants can disrupt spawning behaviour in shellfish.
Musk accumulates in the fatty tissues of aquatic organisms, which leads to bioaccumulation as it moves up the food chain.
Certain cardiac drugs can prevent aquatic organisms from expelling contaminants from their systems, thus increasing the toxic effects of all the PPCPs they are exposed to.

The Future

The issue of PPCP contamination of water systems has only been recognized in the last 10 years. More extensive sampling programs have recently begun, and some effects on human and environmental health are beginning to be examined.

The magnitude of this problem and potential negative impacts definitely warrant further investigation. Contamination is extensive and exposure is continual. As long as wastewater treatment plants continue to pump out PPCPs, contaminants will always be present in water systems. Natural degradation of these chemicals can occur; however, new PPCPs continually flowing in results in no decrease in concentration and renders the existing treatment process ineffective. Perhaps before seeking an answer to the question of what PPCPs are doing to the environment, and us, we should look at how we can keep them out in the first place.

For more information, go the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site at epa.gov/nerlesd1/chemistry/pharma/.

Rick de Vries is the co-publisher and editor of Fresh Outlook Magazine, which explores water and wastewater issues as well as related environmental topics. He has a background in biological sciences technology, specializing in pollution and environmental sciences.

Source: alive #243, January 2003

Canada's Water Under Threat
Arm-twisting has begun by huge global corporations and financial institutions to get their foot in the door of what they perceive to be an excellent business opportunity--the exploitation of Canadian water.

Water, Water Everywhere
Ever since Walkerton's tragic deadly E. coli outbreak, Canadians across this country are asking, "Is our tap water really safe?" We have every right to ask. Walkerton, a fiasco of cover-ups and incompetence whose resulting deaths and illnesses were unnecessary, could have happened anywhere in Canada..

Like Oil and Water
Modern farming activities are no longer limited to small, family-owned operation.

Parasites: Unwanted Guests
Do you feel tired most of the time? Suffer from digestive problems, food sensitivities or allergic-like reactions? Do you have difficulty gaining or losing weight? Have you tried a yeast-control program, yet can't stay away from sugar? Is something not quite right physically, but you can't pinpoint the cause? Welcome to t.

Can You Swallow This?
Multinationals are poised to profit from the privatization of Canada's domestic water supplies.

Water Pollution From Drugs And Cosmetics

Lighten Your Load
Heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and aluminum are natural components of the earth's crust; sometimes called trace metals, these metals were in our environment in only tiny amounts until the last century, when industrial uses became common.

Quench That Thirst-Safely

Cruise Ship Waste
The ocean glitters in the wake of the magnificent white cruise ship while you wine and dine at sumptuous buffets and then dance the night away in a starlit ballroom. Cruise lines promise decadence and opulence. But there is a darker side to the story.

The War Over Water
Canada dreads becoming water supplier to the United States--draining its lakes to fill California swimming pools, water Arizona golf courses, irrigate Midwestern farms and ease East Coast drough.

Nitrate-contaminated Water
Grade 10 students in Pierson, Manitoba, were given a well-testing project in a horticultural and environmental studies class. Of 20 samples submitted for analysis, 12 came back with unacceptably high bacteria or nitrate level.

Industrial Solvent in Drinking Water
The drinking water in some Ontario communities has been found to contain high levels of trichlorethelene (TCE), a toxic industrial solvent, provincial water quality disclosure records show. Tens of thousands of people have been exposed to the compound in recent years at levels considered risky in the United States..

Clean-Conscience Sewage Treatment
Sewage treatment is fun to learn about in Bear River, Nova Scotia. The town's solar aquatic treatment system is actually a tourist destination for 2,000 visitors a year. What makes the plant so unique is that it relies on natural processes to help sanitize waste, which saves energy and doesn't cause water pollution.

Water woes

Malnutrition and bacterial infection

What's on Tap?
Every so often, you hear something that really wakes you up to an issue. This happened to me while talking to Dr. Warren Bell about drugs in our water.

Marine Mystery
Thousands of poisonous, heartless, brainless creatures are taking over vast swaths of the world's oceans. The boneless blobs might seem otherworldly, but they aren't aliens-they're jellyfish. In certain seas, their populations are exploding, and some scientists view the phenomenon as a sign of ecological disaster.

Petro Problems in Cowboy Country
When it comes to mega-profits from mega-oil, the province of Alberta was not careful enough about what it wished for. What it has been granted, along with the riches, is a nightmarish mess of pollution that it has not begun to address.

From Sea to Stinking Sea
Bathroom jokes aside, few of us think about sewage, assuming that what we flush away will somehow take care of itself. But such an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude will no longer float, so to speak.

Volunteers for the Environment
We are so closely connected to other forms of life on our planet that survival without them is unthinkable. And although we have the power of intellect, we can never consider ourselves as superior. On the contrary, we need these species in order to survive.

Killer Protection
The West Coast’s most iconic marine mammals—orcas or killer whales—are under attack and facing many serious threats throughout their Pacific habitat.