Last week, we discussed the problems with antibiotics and how municipal wastewater treatment plants(WWTP) like ours worsen the spread of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant genes(ARG) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria(ARB) into the environment.
This week, we expand our scope on pollutants to the subset of WHO’s persistent organic pollutants that encompass antibiotics, biocidal compounds, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors; which I’ll term as bio-disruptive organic compounds (BOC) for the purpose of this post.
BES folks might recognise endocrine disruptors as an emerging pollutant in freshwater systems; but for the sake of those unaware, these BOCs alter hormone levels in organisms in a way that causes harm to the organism, its offspring, or those around them(Bergman, Heindel, Jobling, Kidd, & Zoeller, 2012; Godfray et al., 2019).
As the term “emerging pollutant” might allude to, new endocrine disruptors and BOCs are being discovered or manufactured(Bergman et al., 2012). Some of these originate from completely unintuitive sources: I mean, imagine flame retardants changing your hormone levels(Godfray et al., 2019)! I wouldn’t even have thought to look there for BOCs!
Not to mention, household products (especially plastics, glues, lubricating oils) contain plasticizers like phthalates, BPA and flame retardants like Polybrominated diphenyl ethers(PBDE) that are also endocrine disruptors(Monneret, 2017).
Yes…even I’m guilty.
Plastic containers, lubricants, and even vinyl flooring contain BOCs that can be washed into our sewers(Monneret, 2017).
Think about it, every time you wash your utensils, ride a public bus or wash your floor: we are washing BOCs down our sewers. With all due respect to PUB, our municipal WWTPs are still under-equipped to ensure complete and utter removal of all BOCs from our wastewater stream(Sui et al., 2015). I must stress utter removal because BOC concentrations of parts per trillion(ppt) are still harmful(Godfray et al., 2019).
Remember our 4 national taps? Yep, that same catchment water Sui et al (2015) found BOCs in bounces straight back at us. Of course, nothing is happening to our aquatic ecosystems or drinking water as of yet; but we can’t say with certainty that there will not be an ARB outbreak., an emergent BOC contamination, or any side effects of chronic exposure to BOCs
No point crying over spilt drugs, let’s talk solutions. The problem? Elevated concentrations of Diclofenac and Carbamazepine in ppt to ppb, and Caffeine in ppb to ppm; found around the Jurong Lake Catchment(Tran, Li, Hu, & Ong, 2014).
Sampling sites for pharmaceuticals around Jurong Lake Catchment.
Source(left): https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2428-9
Source(right): https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jurong+Lake/@1.3382125,103.7046754,4171m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x31da0ffd5cd73093:0x415a1e9ba09be19b!8m2!3d1.3418479!4d103.7281926
While there probably won’t be a universal solution to eliminate these BOCs from our wastewater, there is a particular pilot test that achieved significant results in a context analogous to Singapore’s WWTPs that I would like to present. A pilot plant utilising a novel technology, known as Membrane Distillation(MD), was implemented at Swedish WWTP as an alternative to an existing reverse osmosis array for the purpose of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment(Fortkamp et al., 2015). To put it simply, instead of using high pressures to squeeze water through a porous membrane, a selective hydrophilic membrane that only allows vaporised wastewater through is used.
The pilot managed to reduce Diclofenac, Carbamazepine, and Caffeine concentrations to below 3 ppt(Fortkamp et al., 2015). However, outstanding costs for heating wastewater was identified(Fortkamp et al., 2015). Fortunately, since PUB’s WWTPs recycles biogas for energy generation, a similar MD system with virtually no extra energy expenditure may be possible!
A possible opportunity to install a membrane distillation unit in our WWTPs. Source: https://www.pub.gov.sg/PublishingImages/PUB_29_UsedWaterConventionalTreatment%20PA-01.png
References:
Bergman, Å., Heindel, J., Jobling, S., Kidd, K., & Zoeller, R. T. (2012). State-of-the-science of endocrine disrupting chemicals, 2012. Toxicology Letters. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2012.03.020
Fortkamp, U., Royen, H., Klingspor, M., Ekengren, Ö., Martin, A., & Woldemariam, D. M. (2015). Membrane Distillation pilot tests for different wastewaters.In IVL Report B 2236: https://www.ivl.se/download/18.7e136029152c7d48c201f3/…/B2236.pdf
Godfray, H. C. J., Stephens, A. E. A., Jepson, P. D., Jobling, S., Johnson, A. C., Matthiessen, P., … McLean, A. R. (2019). A restatement of the natural science evidence base on the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on wildlife. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2416
Monneret, C. (2017). What is an endocrine disruptor? Comptes Rendus – Biologies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2017.07.004
Sui, Q., Cao, X., Lu, S., Zhao, W., Qiu, Z., & Yu, G. (2015). Occurrence, sources and fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the groundwater: A review. Emerging Contaminants. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2015.07.001
Tran, N. H., Li, J., Hu, J., & Ong, S. L. (2014). Occurrence and suitability of pharmaceuticals and personal care products as molecular markers for raw wastewater contamination in surface water and groundwater. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2428-9
Additional Note:
If you would like to read more about Membrane Distillation, check out this book at National Libraries!
Specifically, pages 305-350. Really interesting stuff!
Hi Samuel!
Thanks for sharing about BOCs and how technology isn’t quite there yet to remove BOCs from our wastewater. While it is important to reduce BOCs, it can be inconvenient for people to stop using their reusable tupperwares and water bottles. How else could we then mitigate the effects of BOCs (besides improving technology)?
Cheers,
Letitia 🙂
Hi Letitia! Good question! How I wish we could solve without any compromises.
BOCs in our wastewater arise from almost everything we use, be it from wants to needs. There are the inevitables: the medicative pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and plasticizers used in medication and vaccines etc. Until we can find exotic materials to replace these, the unfortunate reality is we cannot avoid BOCs in our wastewater; and even so the substitutes may cause other problems.
On the grassroots level, one of the effects of BOCs is the spread of ARG and the evolution of ARBs. Your individual decisions here are key. Prefer food and beverage products that explicitly state that there were no antibiotics used, or are organically grown. Skygreens vegetables are a good option! Also, finish your antibiotic dosage. The last thing you want is your body to become an ARG factory because bacteria in your body gain antibiotic resistance!
Use of plasticisers is so pervasive in our society that we are almost unable to live without it. Some are recognised BOCs, some may not even be known yet. Finding substitutes will more than likely result in shifting from one potential BOC to another. So the most important thing is to reduce your usage. Refuse plastic or laminated paper takeaways and use your own containers! Oh, and since metal straws are a thing, why not metal lunchboxes? I don’t think that would be as hard of a switch to justify as a metal straw! Alternatively, choose products that are BPA, parabens and phthalates-free. I think we’d rather have trace amounts of BOCs emitted into wastewater that CAN be treated than BOCs be emitted en masses at our incineration plants and Pulau Semakau.
If you can’t eliminate, reduce!
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Hi Samuel,
I have a question about this.
“Think about it, every time you wash your utensils, ride a public bus or wash your floor: we are washing BOCs down our sewers.”
What do you mean ? As far as I know, when we wash plastic dishes, e.g., tupperware, (at least under normal conditions) there’s no degradation. And why would riding a bus or washing the floor send BOCs to WWTPs ?
Thanks,
jc
Hi Dr Coleman, thanks for the questions!
For the first part, plastic food containers are typically made of various plastics that use plasticizers to enhance their properties: be it flexibility, malleability, durability, you name it.
A number of plasticizer types, namely Bisphenol A(BPA) and phthalate plasticizers, have been scrutinized for their endocrine-disrupting effects(confirmed for the former, controversial for the latter) (Monneret, 2017).
Lab analyses done by Fasano et al. (2012) found these plasticizers leaching from everyday plastic products, from trace amounts to ppb levels just by exposing them to the liquids you’d expect them to contain.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission also reviewed papers that found trace levels of phthalates migrating from polypropylene containers into the products or food they contain, although this is somewhat controversial.
So while washing clean plastic containers might not leach plasticizers, the food residues could certainly contain trace or significant amounts.
More worryingly, we eat from these containers! These plasticizers don’t even have to go through wastewater to make it to us!
This paper also reviewed from other papers that found that once these plasticizers make it through your body, they are excreted into wastewater systems as well.
Regarding the second part of the question, my intention was to insinuate that we all contribute to BOC contamination, whether we like it or not. Riding the public bus contributes to the demand for public bus services; and of course, using the bus means the bus needs to be washed and maintained too. In the process of this, phthalates on automotive plastics (Monneret, 2017) on the bus could leach into washing water and end up in our drains. Likewise, when washing floors with vinyl coatings(Monneret, 2017), the same process could happen too. Perhaps more significantly, lubricating oils that contain phthalates (Monneret, 2017) and other plasticizers (which may be potential BOCs) in the engine and throughout the vehicle’s structure constantly leach onto roads in the form of those iridescent oil slicks you see on roads when it’s raining. These compounds wash off into our sewers and stormwater drains and eventually make their way to our WWTP or worse, catchment areas!
Sorry for the really drawn out answer, but with sources of BOCs everywhere, there are so many pathways they could take to harm the environment and us. Sadly, these pathways are just a speck in the great unknown of endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and other nasties; and we’re all responsible for it.
AWESOME reply. Thank you so much for clarifying – I understand much better what you meant. Also, this is just gross, right ?
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