The President’s
Column
—Jan Allbright
Endocrine Disruptors and Wastewater, Impacts
on the Verde River and You
There is an increasing amount of discussion about Endocrine Disruptors
(ED), their appearance in the wastewater stream, and the effects of these
substances upon receiving waters and the public. This is a brief description
of ED, their effects on the body, how they enter the wastewater stream,
and their overall impact.
The Endocrine System is a set of organs in our bodies that generate hormones.
These organs include the testis, ovaries, thyroid, and others. They reside
in all parts of the body, including the brain. Hormone signals are responsible
for the ordering of the body before birth, the progression of growth and
puberty, and other changes of life. Examples of hormones are Steroids,
Testosterone, Estrogen and Insulin. Hormones are created in these organs
and flow through the blood stream. The general level of hormones in the
body is very low.
An Endocrine Disruptor is something that takes the place of the naturally
occurring hormones in the body. It basically hijacks our natural hormonal
system. This can cause radical changes in our body. This disruption can
be intentional or not. Birth control pills are a classic example of ED,
and is intentional. The problem comes when the disruption is unintentional.
What are some of these ED? They are, in general, manufactured substances
that include pharmaceuticals, and more. The complete list from the EPA/ADEQ
would fill this newsletter.
How do these substances enter the wastewater stream? We put them there,
often unintentionally. For example, if you are taking birth control pills
or some other form of maintenance hormone, every time you urinate, a small
amount of these hormones pass into the wastewater stream. If you pour
a bottle of pills down the drain, thinking that is a safe disposal method,
it affects our river. Other sources are more intense. People routinely
dump industrial strength substances down the toilet or sewage inlets both
through ignorance and intentionally.
The good news is that your average advanced wastewater treatment plant
(like Cottonwood and Sedona) can do an 80% to 90% effective job in removing
these compounds, but only if they are operated in a manner consistent
with that removal. These plants work because they add lots of oxygen (air)
and then remove the air for an extended period of time. This effectively
“burns” these compounds. Most of the rest can be removed with
activated charcoal filters.
The final amount can be removed
by reverse osmosis filters. If the wastewater treatment plant is not operated
in the manner described, then these substances will persist in either
the water table and /or the receiving waters. So when you hear about any
organization that is discussing using wastewater for water table recharge
you should ask serious questions about SOC/VOC/ED level monitoring.
Probably the most serious issue is with septic tanks. Septic tanks have
virtually no mechanism for “burning” these compounds, so they
persist and drift down to the water table. Once the ED have made it to
the water table, they will eventually make their way to either a receiving
water (like the Verde River) or to us, through our drinking water wells.
If these ED make their way to a receiving water, then everything in the
water receives a dose. If they make it to our drinking water, then we
get the dose. How big a dose? You will never know because this is not
routinely tested. Not big, actually probably very small. But it does not
have to be big to impact us, because the active levels in the body are
also very small.
So what you are presented with is a very long term, very low level dose
of a very active compound. Nice idea, right? Sort of an uncontrolled experiment
on your body.
What are the threats to wildlife? We have seen examples of androgyny in
amphibians. This is something that is going to take a long time to play
out. As the densities of septic tanks increase, the probabilities shift
away from our favor.
How real is the problem of Endocrine Disruptors? Every ED experiment that
I have researched indicates that there are serious body modifications
in amphibians grown in the “reclaimed water”. These changes
occur very early in the development of the amphibians; adults appear to
be less sensitive. One might postulate that as the body ages it loses
sensitivity to ED. It appears that our unborn will be the recipients of
our actions.
This is one of the reasons that the VRCA has decided to focus on the threats
that high density septic tanks present. I encourage you to keep track
of what is going on in the Planning and Zoning office. While building
in the Verde Valley has slowed down, there are still projects on the planning
table that could be better served having central wastewater treatment.
The VRCA stands ready to assist the planners of projects with educational
and professional resources to help them in the decision-making process.
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