Say No to Drugs in the Waste Stream

Recent mainstream news accounts passed on an alarming finding that much of the U.S. drinking water supply is being tainted by trace amounts of pharmaceuticals.Recent mainstream news accounts passed on an alarming finding that much of the U.S. drinking water supply is being tainted by trace amounts of pharmaceuticals.

Recent mainstream news accounts passed on an alarming finding that much of the U.S. drinking water supply is being tainted by trace amounts of pharmaceuticals. Among prescription and over-the-counter drugs found in the water used by more than 40 million Americans were antibiotics, mood stabilizers, sex hormones, acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

The serious development should come as no surprise to pumpers, who have been concerned about the impact of medications on septic systems and, ultimately, our precious water supply. Liquid waste professionals fired a warning shot about drugs tainting the waste stream in a November 2006 installment of the Overheard Online feature in Pumper®.

The Pumper online community had been abuzz over this issue when one contractor pointed out he noticed an increased failure rate of drainfields serving septic systems at senior citizen housing complexes. The upshot of that discussion was that increased medications — especially chemotherapy regimens — take a huge toll on the bacterial action in a septic tank.

“I went to a class at the University of Wisconsin where it was said the bacteria is found to be dying in septic tanks where people are on chemotherapy. The body only uses about 30 percent of medications put into it,’’ one poster said at the time.

From the news accounts, it’s clear that not enough is known about the danger of trace amounts of meds reaching the drinking water supply. But we can assume it would be better if we do whatever we can to limit the tainting of municipal water supplies or the water table beneath onsite septic systems.

For the pumping community, two immediate courses of action come to mind:

• Monitor septic tanks closely and talk to customers if you encounter a “dead’’ tank. One pumper in the Overheard column said the tank of a customer using a lot of medications emitted a different odor prior to a drainfield failure he believes was caused by the drugs. Another reported pumpers have found septic tanks to be void of any real solids and contain an abnormally thick scum layer. Drainfield failure itself could be another clue.

If you see signs of something going wrong with a customer’s system, ask if someone in the home is using a lot of prescription medications. Then talk to your local health department officials and other pumpers about ways to counteract medications that appear to be killing off bacteria in the tank. Some of our posters indicated that adding more bacteria is the answer.

• Stress responsible disposal of unused drugs. Dealing with medications that end up in human waste is a challenge that may be difficult to overcome. But stopping your customers from flushing unused pills down the toilet is an easier problem to reverse.

Local municipalities across the country are responding to the disposal issue. The county I live in started collecting unused meds in 2006 and has kept nearly 300 pounds of meds from being flushed down toilets. You can help in this effort by contacting your local officials and see if they have such a program. If they do, tell your customers about it and urge them to participate for the good of public health and the preservation of their septic system. If there is no such program, lobby local governments to consider offering collection.

The early awareness of the dangers of medications in the waste stream by the pumping community once again stresses an important role the industry plays: You’re concerned environmentalists.



Discussion

Comments on this site are submitted by users and are not endorsed by nor do they reflect the views or opinions of COLE Publishing, Inc. Comments are moderated before being posted.