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. 2016 May 1;124(5):A86-91.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.124-A86.

Pipe Dreams: Tapping into the Health Information in Our Sewers

Carrie Arnold

Pipe Dreams: Tapping into the Health Information in Our Sewers

Carrie Arnold. Environ Health Perspect. .
No abstract available

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The emerging field of sewage chemical-information mining is taking advantage of a readily available yet underappreciated resource: the untreated waste flowing under our feet and the biosolids remaining after treatment. It turns out that sewage and sewage sludge hold a wealth of data on chemical consumption and exposure, and potentially even the health status of whole communities. EHP
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Freezers at the National Sewage Sludge Repository hold hundreds of samples of raw sewage and sludge collected from more than 200 sites around the United States. © Arjunkrishna Venkatesan
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Most chemicals that people are exposed to via consumer products are ultimately washed off or excreted; they are collected in municipal sewers and sent to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Fat-soluble chemicals—i.e., those that can accumulate in the human body—tend to be the ones that resist treatment. Courtesy Arizona State University
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Persistent substances that withstand treatment can find their way into fertilizer derived from sewage sludge. This popular soil amendment for agricultural fields thus represents a potential route for anthropogenic chemicals to enter the food supply. © Justin Kase zsixz/Alamy
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Surveys of sewage sludge have revealed varying concentrations of dozens of anthropogenic chemicals, including a) compounds used in pharmaceuticals and personal care products, b) surfactants, c) perfluorinated compounds, and d) brominated flame retardants. Analysis of samples archived at the National Sewage Sludge Repository has revealed the presence of previously unmonitored compounds (orange bars). Source: Venkatesan et al. (2015)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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