It is said an important reuse of treated wastewater, recycled water, is beneficial in arid and semiarid regions as landscape irrigation.
However, the environmental fate, especially groundwater contamination potential, from trace contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products is a significant concern that can hinder the acceptance and adoption of such uses.
But for the city and its councilmember's image, the city will tonight be receiving an award for misleading the public that recycled water is safe.
So, let's look at what the present water treatment systems do not remove, and PPCPs can also negatively affect the biological treatment process. Which means contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, painkillers, antiepileptics, caffeine, and birth control pills. And personal care products, including soaps, fragrance, makeup, detergent metabolites, stain resistant coating for clothing and furniture, brominated fire retardants, and insecticides such as deet.
So, while the city and council congratulate themselves for their water self-sufficiency programs, the city including all of you sitting up there now are misleading the public that recycled water is safe.
And since you all claim to be such environmentalists, besides recycled water being shown to do reproductive harm in humans, let's look at what it does to things in the environment.
Reasearch has shown PPCPs have the potential to cause hormone disruptions in aquatic organisms with continued exposure to trace organic compounds. Scientists have also observed an increase in the discovery of intersex orgasms, fish developing both male and female reproductive anatomy.
