[Pharmwaste] goldfish used downstream of water treatment plant

[Gilliam, Allen]

Mr. Leonard,

How can it be made possible to follow your project (described below,
from the Edmonton Journal.  Thanx Laurie!) on this wastewater plant's
effluent effects on aquatic life?  Will there be any specifics posted on
your site at http://www.ewmce.com/index.html as your project evolves?  

Are/will you be using more than just the carassius auratus species for a
complete benthic assessment?  What pollutants are being analyzed for?
Are you following EPA's RBPs?

This office isn't finding any mention of your project or clover bar
centre on EPA's PPCP's site at
http://www.epa.gov/esd/chemistry/pharma/databases.htm

This listserve has many highly educated subscribers scattered around the
U.S. who are keenly interested in a typical city's effluent's potential
toxicity cause and effect relationships especially from pharmaceuticals.

Please consider subscribing to this nationally recognized listserve @ 
  http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste and
keep us in your loop!

Thanx in advance for a reply,

Allen Gilliam
ADEQ State Pretreatment Coordinator
501.682.0625

-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Tenace,
Laurie
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 4:06 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] goldfish used downstream of water treatment plant

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=b6dc97
e9-04
cd-4bb1-bed1-c9e6646acff3&k=7191

Gold Bar waste put to goldfish test  
View Larger Image
 Jerry Leonard, executive director of the Edmonton Waste Management
Centre of Excellence 
Photograph by : Chris Schwarz, The Journal    
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  Font: * * * *  Gordon Kent, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 
EDMONTON - Down by the North Saskatchewan River, a thousand goldfish are
constantly swimming against water flowing from Edmonton's Gold Bar
treatment plant.

The fish in the tanks are a modern-day version of canaries in coalmines,
helping researchers since last April check the health and environmental
impact of medication and pesticides that are flushed down city drains
every day.

The fish will be studied over a year to find out the effects of their
exposure to trace amounts of contamination that remain in treated water.

The fish are characteristic of Jerry Leonard's world, which is all about
finding better ways to dispose of debris -- where even a stinking pile
of trash could become a source of energy.

Leonard is executive manager of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of
Excellence, a non-profit company boosting the city's reputation as a
world leader in waste management.

"That's one of the unique things about the centre," he says. "It looks
at the whole spectrum of waste, from sewage to solid."

The organization, started in 2003, includes a two-storey facility at the
Clover Bar waste management centre and a lab at the Gold Bar sewage
treatment plant.

It only has a handful of employees. Research is done by the staff of the
partners behind the centre -- the city, University of Alberta, Alberta
Research Council, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Olds College
and the Amec consulting firm.

"Not only do we have academic expertise available to us, but we have a
huge amount of expertise available to us through the city," said
Leonard.

The centre is currently in charge of about a dozen projects. Leonard
doesn't know of any other organization with the same structure doing
similar work.

In one of two big work spaces at the Clover Bar site, city staff are
putting together equipment to test the feasibility of creating small
pellets and shredded fluff out of trash such as plastic bags that can't
be composted.

Instead of sending it to the landfill, this material could be converted
at high temperatures into a gas which can be used for fuel or chemical
feedstock.

Once a couple of hundred tonnes of the material is produced, it will be
tested by a Quebec firm to determine whether the scheme is practical.

The centre, with an annual operating budget of about $250,000, is still
in the startup phase, says Leonard, a U of A agricultural engineer
specializing in waste management.

The first big success was finding a way to clean and reuse most of the
100,000 tonnes of sand Edmonton dumps on roads each winter to improve
traction.

A process spearheaded by former transportation supervisor John Mundy, in
which sand swept up each spring is washed through sieves, worked so well
the centre has a deal to recycle all street sand for six years.

It contracts out the recycling to a company Mundy started. The centre
receives money and a chance to do research aimed at further improving
the process.

Leonard wants to start selling the centre's expertise internationally,
providing training, waste management planning and consulting services
for anyone interested.

A Mongolian delegation is coming to Edmonton in February with a list of
questions for city officials, including how best to operate a landfill,
he says.

The centre's immediate focus is finding customers in the growing
economies of China and Mexico, he says.

"In China, they're interested in how you charge people for garbage
services, and how do you get them to put recyclables in different
containers," he says.

Countries are increasingly focused on dealing properly with their sewage
and trash, Leonard says.

"There's a whole lot more waste, and very little of it is actually
managed, but it needs to be."

gkent at thejournal.canwest.com



Laurie J. Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
PH: (850) 245-8759
FAX: (850) 245-8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
 
view our mercury web pages at: 
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm
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