[Pharmwaste] Assessment of Technologies for the Removal of PPCPs in Wastewater and Drinking Water Facilities

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

This is a very useful resource:

http://poseidon.bafg.de/servlet/is/2884/

EU-Project Poseidon

Assessment of Technologies for the Removal of Pharmaceuticals and
Personal Care Products in Sewage and Drinking Water Facilities to
Improve the Indirect Potable Water Reuse
 
Description of POSEIDON 

Municipal wastewater contains a multitude of persistent organic
compounds derived from domestic application such as active ingredients
in pharmaceuticals and personal care products, which are used in large
quantities throughout the world.

Here both groups will be collectively referred to as "Pharmaceuticals &
Personal Care Product ingredients" (PPCPs). PPCPs passing wastewater
treatment systems are continuously infused to the environment via Waste
Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) discharges and are present in the feeding
water (groundwater, bank filtrates, surface water) of waterworks.

In some cases even drinking water is contaminated with PPCPs.
Pharmaceuticals are designed to induce specific biological effects at
specific target organisms for a limited period of time. The continuous,
wide spread, long-term exposure of PPCPs to the environment and humans,
although at low concentration levels, may result first in gradual almost
hardly detectable changes. However, in the long run significant impacts
on the environmental and human health can not be excluded.

In particular, the release of antibiotics into the environment may
induce the development of resistant bacterial strains. To reduce the
risks of unforeseeable long-term side effects of PPCPs to the
environment and human health, and to circumvent a life-long consumption
of low doses of potentially toxic PPCPs through drinking water, POSEIDON
developed methods to reduce the uncontrolled releases of PPCPs to the
environment via wastewater.

Further, POSEIDON intended to enhance efficient and unpolluted water
supply and to specify the potential risks of PPCPs to the environment.


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