Does anyone have a process or treatment program to address the drugs being dumped down our drains? (asking for a friend in the industry)

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Does anyone have a process or treatment program to address the drugs being dumped down our drains? (asking for a friend in the industry)

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  1. The most effective means is source control.  Drugstores in Canada now accept pills and other medications for disposal by incineration.  Once drugs have entered the wastewater they are difficult to treat biologically due to their complex nature and dilution.  Ozone and advanced oxidation (hydroxyl radical generation) have shown to be effective in break up the complex molecules into more readily biodegradable components.  A certain portion of these chemicals become adsorbed to suspended solids and bacteria clusters in the treatment process and, consequently, there is more time for degradation to occur than for the chemicals that remain in solution and are subject to only hours of biological degradation.  Treatment processes that have a high suspended solids or retain solids for long periods of time are logically believed to treat pharmaceuticals in solution due to the large adsorption capacity and long sludge ages.  Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) processes have suspended solids more than double conventional activated sludge secondary treatment sludge and sludge ages in the order of greater than 90 days.  Fixed film processes with recirculation such as recirculating biofilters, TFAS, or constructed wetlands (polishing) systems are also processes with similar characteristics. 

  2. Dear Mary,

    Thanks for putting such an interesting question, that too for your friend in an industry.

    The drugs are considered as part of hazardous waste, which needs to be addressed as per the prescribed Rules prevailing in a particular country. For such disposal of such drugs (probably expired) need to be incinerated and then the ash so produced has to be disposed off in a Secured Hazardous Waste Landfill Site.

    However, if such drugs are being dumped down in the drains, if possible these may be removed from the drains by diverting water or by any other method and then treated as per the secured Hazardous Waste Management.

    In case it is not possible for removal, the chemical composition has to be assessed for taking further corrective measures and the experts may be involved in this process as this may lead to long lasting effects on the human health & environment. But in any case further dumping in the drains has to be stopped immediately.

    I am further sure that the valuable comments from experts in this Group shall be able to tackle this issue.

    With kind regards,

    Dr. dpsingh

    dpshimla@gmail.com

    1 Comment reply

    1. I have been concerned about this problem.  I am seeing this in Hog lagoons where Antibiotics are fed to Hogs and their urine contains the residue going into the lagoons and causing problems (weakening or killing)  the Microbes we put in to chew up the sludge.  So, I assure you that you cannot stop these drugs from getting into the Waste water.  There is another way, for example,  we can now produce  strains of Microbes which can break up PCBs  (PolyChlorinated Biphenols)  we do not eliminate them but we can break them up so that they are no longer a carcinogen.  The Microbes break up the PolyChlorinated chain.  We have only touch the surface of the strains or species of Microbes out there but I am very confident we can find some that will break up these Pharmaceuticals. 

  4. Strong point-source pretreatment or prevention is a keystone to solving this persistent chemical contamination problem. Track down the source and have Laws to ensure enforcement and compliance that mandate the perpetrators to clean up their act and stop harming the open environment. Pharmaceuticals are very hard to remove once they are integrated in water systems.

  5. Use small plastic bags. Crush them with small hammer. Paint bag red and you have hazmat  bag for Resource Recovery Plant or Landfill. Most Sewage Treatment Plants can not treat Birth Control pills. Estrogen flows into river and back into public water supplies if using surfaces waters. Antibiotics in sanitary sewers are bad but Estrogen will not go away until there is a replacement. I fear this will not be soon.       

  6. What you need to do is get samples of what is appearing in the Waste water.  I have been trying to find something for quite a while.  So far, all I can find to do is to take samples and send them to a company which deals in Microbes.   I work with Ecozyme out of Troup, TX.  They have been helping me inoculate Hog Lagoons to control hog waste sludge.  They work with at least 300 species of microbes however there are Trillions of different species out there and over 95% of them have never been evaluated and listed them as to their possible use for us humans.  We do know that over 95% if all microbes are beneficial to Humans.

    Since the Hog industry uses huge amounts of Antibiotics, we are suspicious that these Antibiotics  (showing up in the Hog Lagoons) are interfering with our microbes and killing them or weakening them.  therefore our microbes are not eliminating the sludge like we expect them to do.  But, for sure there are certain species of Microbes which can break up these pharmaceuticals, we just need to find them.  Until them, you (we) are drinking the water from these WWTPs with all those perscription drugs in that water.  I decided to go with digging a well and eliminating not only these drugs but also (UGH) Chlorine and Flouride.

     

    1 Comment reply

    1. The chemicals you are referring to are complex and not suited to biooxidation.  While it is believed that some attached growth biological treatment systems, constructed wetlands for example, have an edge over conventional activated sludge suspended growth systems, the key is likely adsorbing the contaminant within a biological matrix which is held long enough to effect degradation.  For this reason membrane bioreactors, with sludge retention times typically of 60 to 90 or more days, are claimed to be superior than conventional activated sludge processes at removing emerging contaminants.  But the research is inconclusive.  The majority of the contaminant reduction is likely adsorption to biomass and removal with waste biosolids.  In effect we are primarily partitioning the contaminants from the liquid into the solid phase.  I am aware of limited research into the use of biochar for adsorption followed by re-charing for organic contaminant destruction.  Reverse osmosis is also just a liquid-liquid partitioning approach which results in a more concentrated waste stream requiring treatment and/or disposal.

  7. There are a number of ways to remove and/or destroy pharmaceuticals and other medical related chemicals.  The selection depends on the source of the wastewater, the types and concentrations of contaminants.   The closer you can place the treatment process to the source of the wastewater containing the chemicals of concern, the more effective you will be in removing them.  Fundamentally, source control (preventing their discharge to sewer) is the most effective means of control.   Examples of technologies that have been demonstrated to be effective (depending on the wastewater characteristics and water chemistry) includes advanced oxidation (i.e. technologies that generate significant quantities of hydroxyl radicals), biological treatment (bio-oxidation and adsorption to biomass), adsorption to activated carbon and biochar, ozonation, membrane filtration (including reverse osmosis), and wet oxidation.  

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