[Pharmwaste] Harmful chemicals may leach from septic systems

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

http://www.medicineonline.com/news/12/5606/Harmful-chemicals-may-leach-f
rom-septic-systems.html

Harmful chemicals may leach from septic systems 
Reuters Health

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Septic systems may not remove natural
hormone-disrupting chemicals -- like estrogen excreted in women's urine
-- from wastewater before it gets into groundwater, which feeds many
drinking water supplies, according to tests conducted in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts. 

In Cape Cod, more than 85 percent of residential and commercial
properties use septic systems. 

In a telephone interview, Dr. Chris Swartz said: "We did find both
natural estrogen and alkyl phenols from detergents entering groundwater
at concentrations very similar to concentrations that have been
documented in the literature to show adverse reproductive effects in
fish swimming in rivers downstream of wastewater treatment discharges." 

Other chemicals detected in groundwater near the tested septic system
include caffeine and detergent brightening compounds. 

Swartz, senior scientist at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton,
Massachusetts, said there is still "hot debate" in the Environmental
Protection Agency and among scientists in general as to whether the
concentrations of these and other chemicals that are being found in the
environment have human health implications. 

"The biggest concern is for prenatal exposures, because fetuses are
exquisitely sensitive to any type of hormonal imbalances during their
development," he explained.
 
Swartz hopes publication of his team's findings in the August 15 issue
of Environmental Science and Technology will fuel dialogue among land
use planners and policy makers about what septic systems are and are not
removing.

"It's important to understand this if we are going to rely on septic
systems," said Swartz.
 
Currently about 25 percent of US households and probably a larger amount
globally, Swartz noted, use on-site septic systems for household waste
treatment as opposed to public sewage treatment plants. 

"And there is a US and global trend toward decentralized wastewater
treatment," Swartz said.
 
Prior research on septic systems have dealt only with nutrients such as
nitrogen and phosphorus that may leach from septic tanks, get into
groundwater, and eventually make it to surface body waters that the
groundwater feeds.
 
The current tests, Swartz said, clearly show that other chemicals, like
natural estrogens, known to interfere with human hormonal regulation,
are also getting away from septic system treatment. Future studies, he
concludes, are needed to determine the extent and potential effects of
drinking water contamination with hormone-disrupting chemicals and other
potentially harmful chemicals. 

SOURCE: Environmental and Science Technology August 15, 2006.

Reuters Health 

Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032