[Pharmwaste] Treatment in Nevada
Bill McClenney
WMcClenney at environcorp.com
Tue Mar 20 14:58:32 EDT 2007
William F. McClenney PG REA | Senior Manager | ENVIRON International Corporation
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From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of pharmwaste-request at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 7:59 AM
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Subject: Pharmwaste Digest, Vol 17, Issue 11
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Today's Topics:
1. Removing the small but potent quantities of estrogens from
waterways (DeBiasi,Deborah)
2. Concentrations of Urinary Phthalate Metabolites are
Associated with Increased Waist Circumference and Insulin
Resistance in Adult U.S. Males (DeBiasi,Deborah)
3. Recycling unused prescriptions (program in Wyoming)
(Tenace, Laurie)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:24:54 -0400
From: "DeBiasi,Deborah" <dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov>
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Removing the small but potent quantities of
estrogens from waterways
To: <pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us>
Message-ID:
<6C097DA58429B743A67070F98BE73A3701206422 at deqex01.deq.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070310/bob9.asp
Science News Online
Week of March 10, 2007; Vol. 171, No. 10
Traces of Trouble
Removing the small but potent quantities of estrogens from waterways
Aimee Cunningham
In 1978, during a routine ecological assessment of several British waterways, wildlife biologists discovered an unusually high number of abnormal fish living downstream of two sewage-treatment plants. The fish were considered intersexual because their gonads contained both ovarian and testicular tissue. Nearly 2 decades later, after the development of more-sensitive analytical techniques, researchers provided an explanation. They traced the animals' reproductive
problems to low concentrations of estrogens, known as the female-sex hormones, that had entered the environment in waters released by the sewage plants.
[IMAGE] CLEANSING POWER. Researchers are working to improve estrogen removal in wastewater-treatment plants. This plant is in Las Vegas. Corbis
Researchers had found that concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion lead to reproductive abnormalities in fish. "This changed the whole thinking about chemicals in the environment," says John P. Sumpter, an ecotoxicologist at Brunel University in Uxbridge,
England. Having generally focused on chemical pollution at higher concentrations, researchers began to consider that perhaps
biologically active chemicals at low concentrations "are the things we should be more concerned about," he says.
Evidence of reproductive harm to aquatic life chronically exposed to estrogens continues to accumulate, and affected fish have now been found in the United States, Italy, and elsewhere.
Naturally occurring estrogens, a family of closely related molecules, can enter the environment from livestock urine and feces. The
hormones in feces and urine of people reach sewage-treatment plants. Synthetic estrogen from birth control pills also turns up in sewage. Small amounts of the chemicals often exit sewage-treatment plants with the treated water. Those plants "are not designed to remove trace pollution," says Jörg E. Drewes, an environmental engineer at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.
Recently, scientists and engineers have been investigating how to stem the flow of estrogens into the environment. The researchers are considering fixes both inside and outside the treatment plants.
"There's a certain optimism that we can control the problem," says David L. Sedlak, an environmental chemist at the University of
California, Berkeley. "I think there are cost-effective solutions out there."
Priming plants
Federal and state governments regulate what substances a treatment plant must remove. The size of the population that a plant serves, the body of water into which it discharges, and other local
environmental factors influence treatment processes, explains Drewes.
The main task of sewage-treatment plants is to remove organic matter from wastewater. Large amounts of decomposing organic matter rob water of oxygen and endanger aquatic life. Some treatment plants also remove nitrogen and phosphorus, nutrients that encourage growth of oxygen-depleting algae. Finally, treatment plants kill pathogens in the water before discharging it.
Research groups have assessed estrogen removal at various facilities. Between 2002 and 2004, Drewes and his colleagues surveyed seven conventional U.S. treatment plants. The group focused on a treatment step during which microbes digest waste from the water.
The water exiting this step had, on average, only 4 percent of the estrogenic activity measured in the water entering this step.
However, even that level of activity could cause adverse effects in fish, notes Drewes.
As a first approach to increasing estrogen removal, many scientists and engineers are focusing on treatment steps in today's plants. "There's a lot of investment in the current infrastructure," says Drewes. "That's why research is ongoing to see whether you can
fine-tune existing plants."
A few trends have emerged. For example, the longer a plant retains waste for bacterial digestion, the better the estrogen removal. During the retention time, the food available to the microbes changes and different types flourish, increasing the chance that the waste will encounter estrogen degraders. Treatment plants with the longest sludge retention times, sometimes several weeks, are typically those designed to remove nitrogen from their wastes. These plants depend on slow-growing bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrate.
Kung-Hui Chu, an environmental engineer at Texas A&M University in College Station, went in search of strains capable of breaking down estrogens. She and her colleagues sampled degrading waste from a treatment plant in Knoxville, Tenn. For 6 months, they grew the microbes in a flask with estrogen as the only food source.
The researchers isolated 11 bacterial strains that break down 17-beta estradiol, the main form of naturally occurring estrogen, to a form called estrone. That degradation continued for at least 7 days.
However, getting rid of estrone proved more difficult. Two other strains reduced the concentration of estrone measurably in 5 days but couldn't finish the job. The researchers found just one strain that completely degraded 17-beta estradiol to compounds free of estrogenic activity, and it took 5 days to do so. The team reports its results in the Jan. 15 Environmental Science & Technology.
Now that they've identified specific strains, Chu and her colleagues are investigating how abundant the estrogen-degrading microbes are in treatment plants. They would like to figure out the operating
conditions that are most favorable to these bacteria, so that the microbes can "do the degradation work for us," says Chu.
Later stages of water treatment can also remove estrogens. Studies have shown that chlorine, commonly used to disinfect treated water, reacts with and removes estrogen. But those studies also reported the formation of by-products that may cause cancers.
Ozonation, a disinfection process used principally in drinking-water treatment, also removes estrogen, but concerns over cost make its use rare among wastewater-treatment plants, notes Sedlak.
More-advanced treatment options could be added to plants, but they'd be expensive, notes Chu. "From an economic point of view," she says, engineers are initially focusing on improving the microbial
degradation of estrogen.
Wetland wager
Estrogen-removal strategies are also being considered outside
treatment plants. Sedlak and his colleagues have investigated
wetlands engineered to remove contaminants. Some municipalities, such as the Orange County Water District in California, already use
engineered wetlands to aid in nitrogen removal.
Characterized by their dense plant growth, wetlands support many bacteria and can be designed so that water moves slowly through their channels. An engineered wetland, put in place at a treatment plant's discharge point, would provide an additional microbial-degradation step that might also break down estrogens.
In 2002, Sedlak's group measured the removal of estrogens from a test wetland thick with cattails and bulrushes. The researchers tracked changes in hormonal concentration as estrogen-spiked water moved through the site for 3.5 days. The researchers found evidence of microbial degradation of the hormone along with some adsorption to plant surfaces. When the water exited the wetlands, its estrogen concentration had fallen by almost 40 percent from the initial value.
Sedlak says that engineered wetlands with longer water-retention times would probably remove even more estrogen. And other designs might provide more opportunity for degradation. Subsurface wetlands, for example, force the water to travel underground through gravel or sediments that harbor microbial colonies.
Researchers are also investigating whether engineered
wetlands-in combination with the lagoon systems that farmers often use to handle manure-can protect watersheds near livestock operations. Nancy W. Shappell of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Fargo, N.D., and her colleagues examined barns housing more than 100 pigs at North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.
During the study, water flushed manure out of the barns into a pit. The resulting slurry next entered a lagoon, and then continued into test wetlands. Finally, the water moved to a storage pond before being used to flush the barns again. The water remained in the
wetlands between 20 and 50 days, depending on the time of year.
In the Jan. 15 Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers report that the wetlands decreased the estrogenic activity of the water by 83 to 93 percent. Researchers haven't yet examined how well lagoon-wetland systems would handle larger livestock operations, which can house thousands of animals.
Sedlak says, "One of the challenges associated with wetlands is understanding their reliability." There's little known about the effects of seasonal changes or about what wetland configurations are most successful for hormone removal. "The science there is in its infancy," he notes.
Taking action
With the continuing development of low-cost approaches to removing estrogen from wastewater-and the availability of more-expensive, advanced treatments usually reserved for drinking water-"the scientific community is now trying to provide a toolbox for water utilities," Sedlak says. Without regulations requiring estrogen removal, however, it's unclear whether water utilities will use these options.
"You can design plants that take care of these problems," notes Drewes. "The question is, Is the community willing to spend that money?" Moving beyond current federal and state standards would require widespread community support.
Estrogen is not the only compound traveling through water systems that raises concern (see "Dealing With Drugs," below). "I think we need to focus on determining which chemicals put our environment most at risk," says Shappell. That would entail investigating which
compounds persist in treated wastewater at concentrations that have biological activity.
Adds Sumpter, "There are some very interesting questions to ask about how you decide what to focus on and whether the decisions you make are in the best interest of conserving your biodiversity."
Dealing With Drugs
Are pharmaceuticals a problem in wastewater?
With the discovery that small concentrations of naturally occurring and synthetic estrogens can adversely affect aquatic wildlife,
"there's now a lot of interest across the whole suite of
pharmaceuticals," says John P. Sumpter, an ecotoxicologist at Brunel University in Uxbridge, England. "These chemicals are by definition biologically active. If not, you shouldn't be taking them."
Optimizing operations at sewage-treatment plants could reduce
pharmaceuticals as well as hormones. Diana S. Aga, an analytical chemist at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and her colleagues studied the removal rate of two medical compounds-an X-ray-contrast agent and an antibacterial drug-that
frequently turn up in treated water.
In the Dec. 1, 2006 Environmental Science & Technology, the
researchers reported that slow-growing microbes called nitrifying bacteria, which convert ammonia to nitrate, can also degrade those two pharmaceuticals. The group studied a sewage-treatment plant in Amherst, N.Y., that relies on a two-stage microbial process. The first stage retains the waste for 6 days. The second, which
encourages the growth of nitrifying bacteria, keeps the waste for 49 days. While the removal of the two compounds was negligible in the first process, the second took care of 61 percent of the contrast agent and 50 percent of the drug.
"If you make the sludge-retention time appropriate for growing these nitrifying bacteria, you may solve a lot of these problems," says Aga.
Considering the precedent of natural and synthetic estrogens, concern over other pharmaceuticals is legitimate, but there is little
evidence yet that they are affecting aquatic wildlife, says Sumpter. And with the vast differences among classes of drugs, "the trick is, How do you go about selecting the few that are going to be the ones you're concerned about?" He adds that researchers are in the "very early stages" of determining the best way to categorize the compounds.
If you have a comment on this article that you would like considered for publication in Science News, send it to editors at sciencenews.org. Please include your name and location.
References:
Auriol, M., et al. 2006. Endocrine disrupting compounds removal from wastewater, a new challenge. Process Biochemistry 41(March):525-539. Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2005.09.017.
Batt, A.L., Kim, S., and D.S. Aga. 2006. Enhanced biodegradation of iopromide and trimethoprim in nitrifying activated sludge.
Environmental Science & Technology 40(Dec. 1):7367-7373. Abstract available at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
esthag/2006/40/i23/abs/es060835v.html.
Drewes, J.E., et al. 2005. An assessment of endocrine disrupting activity changes during wastewater treatment through the use of bioassays and chemical measurements. Water Environment Research 77(January/February):12-23. Available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.2175/106143005X41573.
Gray, J.L., and D.L. Sedlak. 2005. The fate of estrogenic hormones in an engineered treatment wetland with dense macrophytes. Water
Environment Research 77(January/February):24-31. Available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.2175/106143005X41582.
Kavanagh, R.J., et al. 2004. Endocrine disruption and altered gonadal development in white perch (Morone americana) from the lower Great Lakes region. Environmental Health Perspectives 112(June):898-902. Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.6514.
Khanal, S.K., et al. 2006. Fate, transport, and biodegradation of natural estrogens in the environment and engineered systems.
Environmental Science & Technology 40(Nov. 1):6537-6546. Abstract available at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
esthag/2006/40/i21/abs/es0607739.html.
Shappell, N.W., et al. 2007. Estrogenic activity and steroid hormones in swine wastewater through a lagoon constructed-wetland system. Environmental Science & Technology 41(Jan. 15):444-450. Abstract available at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
esthag/2007/41/i02/abs/es061268e.html.
Sumpter, J.P., and A.C. Johnson. 2005. Lessons from endocrine
disruption and their application to other issues concerning trace organics in the aquatic environment. Environmental Science &
Technology 39(June 15):4321-4332. Abstract available at
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
esthag/2005/39/i12/abs/es048504a.html.
Yu, C.-P., Roh, K., and K.-H Chu. 2007. 17b-estradiol-degrading bacteria isolated from activated sludge. Environmental Science & Technology 41(Jan. 15):486-492. Abstract available at
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
esthag/2007/41/i02/abs/es060923f.html.
Further Readings:
Raloff, J. 2006. Happy fish? Science News 170(Dec. 16):398. Available to subscribers at
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061216/note15.asp.
_______. 2002. Contraceptive-patch worry: Disposal concern focuses on wildlife. Science News 162(Oct. 19):245. Available to subscribers at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20021019/fob5.asp.
_______. 2000. Excreted drugs: Something looks fishy. Science News 157(June 17):388. Available at
http://www.sciencenews.org/20000617/fob1.asp.
_______. 2000. More waters test positive for drugs. Science News 157(April 1):212. Available at
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000401/fob1.asp.
_______. 1998. Drugged waters. Science News 153(March 21):187-189. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc98/3_21_98/bob1.htm.
Sources:
Diana S. Aga
Department of Chemistry
611 Natural Sciences Complex
State University of New York, Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000
Kung-Hui Chu
Department of Civil Engineering
205G WERC
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3136
Jörg E. Drewes
Environmental Science and Engineering Division
1500 Illinois Street
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401
David L. Sedlak
Civil and Environmental Engineering
657 Davis Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1710
Nancy W Shappell
1605 Albrecht Boulevard
Biosciences Research Laboratory
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Fargo, ND 58105-5674
John P. Sumpter
Institute for the Environment
Halsbury 146
Brunel University
Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH
United Kingdom
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070310/bob9.asp
>From Science News, Vol. 171, No. 10, March 10, 2007, p. 152.
-->
Copyright (c) 2007 Science Service. All rights reserved.
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Interested in new developments in science and technology? Consider subscribing to Science News. Visit Science News Online at
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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
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:26:20 -0400
From: "DeBiasi,Deborah" <dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov>
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Concentrations of Urinary Phthalate Metabolites
are Associated with Increased Waist Circumference and Insulin
Resistance in Adult U.S. Males
To: <pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us>
Message-ID:
<6C097DA58429B743A67070F98BE73A3701B298FD at deqex01.deq.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/9882/9882.pdf (about 40 pages)
CHEMICAL MAKING YOU FAT?
A common group of chemicals used in all kinds of products is being
associated with increased obesity. Lester Graham reports this study is
the latest to link the chemicals to health problems:
Read the study from Environmental Health Perspectives
<http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2007/9882/abstract.html>
American Chemistry Council on phthalates <http://www.phthalates.org/>
More articles on phthalates
<http://www.ehponline.org/topic/phthlat.html>
Producer: Lester Graham <http://glrc.org/about/glrc_staff_bio.php3?id=4>
Release Date: March 19, 2007
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
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:58:23 -0400
From: "Tenace, Laurie" <Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us>
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Recycling unused prescriptions (program in
Wyoming)
To: <pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us>
Message-ID:
<092ED29B94A857428BC3419763DE85DB32059F at tlhexsmb5.floridadep.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Sorry I don't have a URL for this article - Laurie
The Casper Star Tribune, WY 3-13-07
Recycling unused prescriptions
By MEGAN MOORE
Star-Tribune staff writer Tuesday, March 13, 2007
What can a person do with the bottles and bottles of expensive medications
once the sick, either by death or through cure, have no more use for them?
Try recycling them. It could save another person's life.
The City of Casper-Natrona County Health Department recently put in an
application with the Wyoming Department of Health for the Medication Donation
Program. Legislated in 2005, it involves the donation of unused prescription
medications and supplies to the various clinics in the state involved, who in
turn give them to individuals who either can't afford their medications,
don't have health insurance, or who can't afford their copay.
The program should be installed and running in Natrona County by April 16 and
will mean that Casper residents no longer have to bear the cost of shipping
for their donated medications.
"I'm really excited about the people's response to the program," said Donna
Artery, Pharmacist Consultant for the Wyoming Department of Health. "I had
someone call from Casper whose father was a cancer patient and she had tons
of his unused medication and was willing to pay the cost to ship it to us."
Artery said that while there is no money actually legislated for the cost of
mailing, there are many who are willing to pay the cost of shipping to see
that the medications get used.
"We're mainly concerned about the high cost medications going to waste. We're
very excited about Casper being involved," said Artery who is working with
the Natrona County Health Department to get the program started.
Mary Janssen, Director of the Community Nursing Division with the Natrona
County Health Department, said the program is voluntary.
"We'll be getting the information out to physicians in the community,"
Janssen said. Then doctors will be able to send patients who express a need
to the health department, where a nurse practitioner will be able to issue
the donated medications.
At first, said Janssen, "patients will be limited to whatever we have in
stock," noting later that it may take a few months to really build a
stockpile of medications.
"Our goal is to try to get it back out," she said, "otherwise it's just such
a waste."
Up to a $10 handling fee will be charged for medications dispensed at the
Natrona County Health Department.
Janssen and Artery are hopeful for the program's future, and Artery soon
hopes to see the program adopted by cities in all four corners of the state.
"Eventually we're hoping to start a statewide Web site where a doctor from
anywhere can look on the site to see where the medication is available,"
Artery said.
What can be donated
* Prescription medication in its original, unopened and sealed packaging. Or,
medication in sealed, singled-dose packaging. Patient names will be removed
to protect confidentiality.
* All medications must be donated within expiration dates.
* Over-the-counter medications will be accepted at the discretion of the
donation site, depending on available space.
What cannot be donated
* Controlled substances such as painkillers and medications with high abuse
potential
* Injectables
* Medications that require refrigeration
* Loose pills
How to dispose of medication that cannot be donated
* Keep the medication in its original container, since labels may contain
safety information and caps are typically childproof. Scratch out or cover
patient's name with permanent marker.
* Modify the contents to discourage consumption. Add a small amount of water
to pills or capsules to at least partially dissolve them; add salt, flour,
charcoal, or a nontoxic powdered spice such as turmeric or mustard to liquid
medications to discourage ingestion; and wrap blister packs containing pills
in multiple layers of duct tape.
* Seal and conceal. Tape container lids shut and place in a nontransparent
bag or container to ensure the contents cannot be seen.
* Discard the container in your garbage can. Do not place in the recycling
bin or conceal medicines in food -- they could be inadvertently consumed by
wildlife scavengers.
* Do not flush medications.
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
Please Note: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written
communications to or from state officials regarding state business are public
records available to the public and media upon request. Your e-mail is
communications and may therefore be subject to public disclosure.
------------------------------
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