Unregulated Compounds in Water:State Activities & Response

Unregulated Organic Chemicals in Drinking Wateraka:

“Toxic Soup”

Eileen Murphy, Ph.D.

March 2008NJ AWWA Spring Conference

Division of Science, Research & TechnologyKey Roles

Provision of high quality science & technical information for use in DEP-wide decision-making

• Research and scientific projects• Technical support

DSRT serves as science center for the Department

Involved in a variety of disciplines

Today’s talk

The early years... Unregulated contaminants in NJ waters and drinking waters: USGS & NJDEP

What’s going on now?• Tailored Collaboration• Demonstration Projects• Settlement of Environmental

Penalty

Future Directions

Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water?

Trace levels of multiple medicines found in finished

drinking water.

Sewage in our drinking water?

Trace levels of wastewater related

compounds found in finished drinking water.

The studies

How do we know?Were they found in NJ?

Water Studies

“Screening” Studies (DEP)

Wastewater Studies (USGS)

Treatment Studies (Multiple)

It’s all about poop (Atherholt)

Wastewater Studies

Screening studiesIndustrial, septic

Drinking Water Treatment Plant Drinking Water Treatment Plant StudiesStudies

It’s all about poop (Atherholt)

Wastewater Studies

1 or more OWCs detected in 80% of samples – 82 of the 95 OWCs detected in 1 or more samples

Concentrations were low (sub ppb) and rarely exceeded established drinking-water guidelines, health-advisories, or aquatic-life criteria

Guidelines, advisories, and criteria not established for many of the compounds detected

75% of samples contained more than 1 OWC and 50% of samples contained 7 or more OWCs

Summary USGS Wastewater Studies(1 of 3)

Summary USGS Wastewater Studies, (2 of 3)

Total concentration(spearman = .76; p = .0001)Total number(spearman = .58; p = .0008)

Summary USGS Wastewater Studies(3 of 3)

Pharmaceutical/AntibioticPesticideFragranceFlame retardantPlant/Animal steroidsDetergent metaboliteOther

Screening studiesIndustrial, septic

Summary of Scanning Studies(1 of 3)

Analytical methods capable of detecting unregulated compounds at ultra-trace levels (below one ppb)

• 600 TICs in NJDEP-EOHSI study• Most in raw samples

QA procedures vital for interpretation of results• Compounds in both samples and blanks• Compounds sometimes in blanks• False positives and negatives possible

TICs occurred in systems where regulated compound concentration elevated

• No TICs in control system

Some compounds pass through existing water treatment

• 51 TICs in raw and finished water

Summary of Scanning Studies(2 of 3)

Some compounds are present in finished water but not in raw water.

Only a fraction of detected compounds have standards, guidelines, or criteria

Systems with carbon treatment had fewer TICs in raw & finished pairs than systems with air stripping only

Summary Scanning Studies(3 of 3)

Drinking Water Treatment Plant Drinking Water Treatment Plant StudiesStudies

Summary Treatment Plant StudiesSummary Treatment Plant Studies(1 of 3)(1 of 3)

• Advancements in analytical technology have given us the ability to detect previously unmonitored contaminants at ultra-trace levels,

• 60 of ~110 OWCs were detected in one or more stream samples,

• Most frequently detected compounds include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fragrances, flame retardants, and plant/animal steroids,

• Stream concentrations were generally sub-ppb and did not exceed established aquatic-life criteria,

Summary Treatment Plant StudiesSummary Treatment Plant Studies(2 of 3)(2 of 3)

Preliminary data indicate that some OWCs can survive conventional water-treatment processes and occur in finished water at sub-ppb levels that do not exceed drinking-water standards,

At most locations, OWCs occur as mixtures of 2 or more compounds,

Findings from these studies corroborate those of the USGSsNational Reconnaissance Survey and other similar U.S. and European studies.

Summary Treatment Plant StudiesSummary Treatment Plant Studies(3 of 3)(3 of 3)

• Different types of advanced treatment can reduce levels of parent compounds.

• Parent compounds may metabolize into degradation products.

Toxicity Review

Are these chemicals harmful?

Follow-up to the studies

Many compounds have little or no information

School of Public Health toxicologists reviewed existing literature

Findings of Toxicity Review

Focused on 300 of the 600 tentatively identified compounds from the screening study.

Reference Doses (RfD) or Minimal Risk Levels (MRL) were available for 15 of the chemicals

Toxicology data was available for an additional 54 chemicals. • Of these 54 chemicals, repeated dose toxicology studies were

available for 25 chemicals. • Acute toxicology data was available for the other 39 chemicals.

Toxicology data could not be located for the remaining 221 chemicals.

Some compounds pass through existing water treatment• 51 TICs in raw and finished water• 11 OWCs tracked throughout a water system

Unique compounds are introduced due to treatment

Detected compounds include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fragrances, flame retardants, and plant/animal steroids

QA procedures vital for interpretation of results

Summary of Completed Work, cont’d.

NJDEP

Summary of Completed Work

Analytical methods capable of detecting unregulated compounds at ultra-trace levels

• 600 TICs in NJDEP-EOHSI study• 60 of 122 OWCs detected in 1 or more stream samples

Unregulated compounds detected at sub-ppb levels

Only a fraction of detected compounds have standards, guidelines, or criteria

NJDEP

What are the human health effects?

What are the ecological effects?

What are the cumulative effects when more than one compound is present?

So What?

So what do we do?

Drink dirty water?

Drink Bottled Water?

Pretend to drink bottled water?

Drink more beer!

Treat the Water

What type of treatment?

How do we know treatment is working?

What’s the regulatory approach?

State Response

Determine extent of exposure

Consider options for removing exposure

Continued fate & transport studies

Water treatment studies

5 Options

Chemical-specific

Chemical class - health endpoint

Chemical class - chemical class

Intensive Site Remediation tracking

Barrier treatment on selected systems

Treatment Option

Interested Party Review• Treatment Option

Literature Review: treatment options

Demonstration Projects

Tailored Collaboration

Settlement Agreement

Activities for Treatment Option

Literature Review: DWQI• Black & Veatch

• Optimal water treatment for surface water systems

• Optimal water treatment for ground water systems

• private wells?Water

Treatment

Ground water Demonstration Projects

Geographic: • Fairlawn (Bergen

County)• Merchantville-

Pennsauken (Camden County)

Based on numbers of chemicals

Full-scale carbon treatment units

State-funded with 5 year commitment

Regulated & unregulated analyses

Collaborative Efforts

Tailored Collaboration• USGS, Black & Veatch, NJDEP, various water

surface water systems

• Extensive monitoring of raw and throughout treatment train - advanced treatment

Settlement Agreement(USGS, NJDEP, NJ American Water)

Penalty toward projectUSGS methodsNJ American

• Raw • Treatment trainSeveral facilitiesUSGS methods

Study Design Comparison

Title Samples Sample Sites Contaminants• NJDEP New Jersey “TIC” StudyGroundwater

Raw Ground waterFinished

Community water systems

Scan (untargeted)

• NJDEP New Jersey “TIC” StudySurface water

Raw surface watersFinished

Community water systems

Scan (untargeted)

• USGS National Reconnaissance Survey Raw surface waters Downstream of wastewater discharges

95 target analytes

• NJDEP-USGS New Jersey Reconnaissance Survey

Raw surface waters Downstream of wastewater discharges

100+ target analytes

• USGS-CDC New Jersey Drinking Water Treatment -Plant Study

Raw surface waterFinished

One community water system

100+ target analytes

• NJDEP-USGS New Jersey Drinking Water Treatment -Plant Study

Raw surface waterFinished

Community water systems

100+ target analytes

• NJDEP-USGS-Black&Veatch Tailored Collaboration

Raw surface waterFinished

Community water systems

100+ target analytes

• NJDEP-USGS-NJ American Water Raw surface waterFinished

Community water systems

100+ target analytes

• NJDEP Demonstration Projects Raw Ground waterFinished

Community water systems

Scan (untargeted)

Systems Vulnerable to Contamination by Unregulated Contaminants

Source Water Assessment Areas

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Ground Water Protection Areas for Merchantville Pennsauken W.C.

Ground Water Protection Areas2 yr. time of travel5 yr. time of travel12 yr. time of travel

r Compost Facility% Solid Waste Landfill

Classification Exemption Area$ Known Contaminated Sites# CWS wells

0.7 0 0.7 Miles

N

J.Louis, DSRT, Aug. 2002

Future Directions

Use results of new work to inform possible regulatory action.Encourage treatment at wastewater discharges (prevention)Encourage research on toxicology of mixtures of contaminants (EOHSI)

Questions?

I’m all ears.