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Department of Ecology News Release - December 1, 2004
04-219
OLYMPIA - A newly published study by Ecology found no significant amounts of pharmaceutical drugs or personal care products in the highly treated water from two Sequim-area sewer plants or in nearby wells and creeks.
Personal care products include non-prescription drugs and products ranging from fragrances to sun-screens.
The substances are a concern because they may pass through wastewater treatment plants into the environment.
"The findings are so scant, they do not alarm us," said Ecology's Art Johnson, author of the study. "This screening study is just a small, limited look at a large puzzle about whether drugs are getting into the environment from treated waste water."
Clallam County requested the Ecology study because two of its sewer plants are re-using highly treated domestic waste water and because many of its residents are older and take medicines. Almost half of the people who live in the Sequim area are older than 59 and more than 20 percent are older than 65.
The Sequim plant re-uses its water to recharge underground water supplies and replenish nearby surface waters. Sunland sprays its highly treated water onto pasture land. Both plants treat the water three times before discharging it.
In the study, Ecology looked for 24 pharmaceutical compounds and personal care products in wells, creeks and the highly treated water from the two sewer plants. There were only tiny concentrations in wells and creeks -- smaller than 26 parts per billion of caffeine, and nicotine, and limited indications of the diabetes drug Metformin.
In the treated waste water, Ecology detected extremely small traces of 16 compounds. The highest amount measured was for a break-down product of caffeine called paraxamthine, which was measured at 200 parts per billion. The lowest measurement was for estrone, a naturally occurring estrogen, which was measured at 0.29 parts per trillion.
Johnson said Ecology's study did not test for all commonly used drugs and that only a relatively few sampling sites were visited.
"Although this was a limited study, the fact that we're seeing scant detections of these substances in ground and surface waters is encouraging," Johnson said.
The study marks the first time Washington has studied drugs in treated waste water. The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey are looking at the issue nationally.
Sequim's sewer plant offers its highly treated water for garden irrigation, to create wetlands and to boost stream flows in Bell Creek. The Sunland wastewater treatment plant sprays water onto land adjacent to its facility. The spray field is bordered by Cassalery Creek.
Water re-use is becoming popular as water supplies decline, according to Cynthia Nelson of Ecology, who advises the Clallam County community about watershed planning.
"Sequim is a great role model because water re-use is an important element of strategies to meet the needs of people and fish," she said.
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Contact: Sandy Howard, public information manager, 360-407-6239
Ecology's study on-line:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0403051.html
EPA's Web site:
http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/chemistry/pharma/index.htm (Link removed 08/01/07.)
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
