Liability
Associated with Emerging Constituents of Concern In the Environment
Modern industrialized societies
rely on thousands of chemicals in everyday life, for agricultural, manufacturing
and domestic applications. As of September 2014, there were more than 45
million organic and inorganic substances listed in the CAS registry of the
American Chemical Society, with about 4000 new substances added each day.
In contrast to classic “priority
pollutants” (or persistent organic pollutants), such as PCE, PCBs or PAHs,
whose primary sources are industrial solvents/drycleaners, transformers and
combustion processes, many of the “emerging contaminants” of current interest have
domestic waste as their predominant source – either in the form of sewage or septic
tank effluent or landfill leachates.
Research is
documenting with increasing frequency that many chemical and microbial
constituents that have not historically been considered as contaminants are
present in the environment on a global scale. These "emerging contaminants" or “emerging
constituents” or “contaminants of emerging concern” are commonly derived from commercial,
residential, municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewater sources and
pathways. Types of contaminants include
some pharmaceuticals, lotions, soaps, sunscreens, insect repellents, household
cleaners, over-the-counter medications, herbicides, pesticides and chemicals
used in manufacturing such as bisphenol A (BPA). See table below for a partial list of
detected constituents.
U.S. EPA and
several states are working to improve its understanding of a number of CECs, particularly
pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and perfluorinated compounds
among others.
These newly
recognized contaminants represent a shift in traditional thinking as many are
produced industrially yet are dispersed to the environment from domestic,
commercial, and industrial uses.
"Emerging
contaminants" can be broadly defined as any synthetic or naturally
occurring chemical or any microorganism that is not commonly monitored in the
environment but has the potential to enter the environment and cause known or
suspected adverse ecological and (or) human health effects. In some cases, release of emerging chemical or
microbial contaminants to the environment has likely occurred for a long time,
but may not have been recognized until new detection methods were developed. In other cases, synthesis of new chemicals or
changes in use and disposal of existing chemicals can create new sources of
emerging contaminants.
While not a public
health issue, the emerging contaminants have been detected in drinking water
supplies at trace levels and can affect some consumers’ perception of drinking
water quality. In fact, an independent
survey conducted recently indicated that 63 percent of Americans are concerned
about pharmaceuticals and other contaminants in their drinking water. In California
where the water will soon be almost as valuable as gold, and with the plans for
using more and more of recycled water, the presence of these constituents in
the water is of major concern.
Emerging
Constituents are usually unregulated chemicals. However, regulatory requirements
will change as new information is developed. To that end, additional data are
needed to characterize the presence and persistence of Emerging Constituents in
various water sources. This information, along with epidemiological and toxicological
data, is used to set priorities for developing new drinking water standards,
new water quality standards, new state notification levels and new monitoring
requirements.
Once Emerging
Constituents have been detected, the question naturally arises as to what
effect, if any, these compounds may have on people and the environment. Several different regulatory agencies share
responsibility for determining the acceptable concentration of these chemicals.
This is a formidable task as there are tens
of thousands of chemical compounds in common use. Consequently, state and federal authorities rely
on sales/usage information and monitoring data (from studies such as this one)
to help determine appropriate research and regulatory priorities.
Emerging
Constituents are
not targeted for removal by filtration or other treatment processes, but
continue on to other water sources. As water moves from its origin
(headwaters) through cities and downstream, each reiteration of this process
works to concentrate those compounds not removed in either the drinking water
or wastewater treatment process. Although Emerging
Constituents can
be removed by some modern facilities, not all treatment
facilities are equipped to effectively remove Emerging Constituents.
Traditional wastewater treatment does not effectively remove these Emerging Constituents,
allowing them to move into the environment even after water has been treated.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 established
new standards for all U.S. public company boards, management and public
accounting firms. This landmark legislation triggered massive changes to
virtually every aspect of corporate governance, business processes and
management controls, financial management, external reporting and disclosures,
independent auditing, and securities regulation. Similar legislation to improve
corporate governance and management has also been enacted internationally.
Environmental liabilities – and their
impacts on corporate financial statements – have not escaped the changes
brought on by Sarbanes-Oxley. Stakeholders
are seeking a higher level of accuracy and assurance when it comes to resolving
environmental liabilities arising from legacy contamination. All of this
overlies the "routine" technical complexities inherent in
environmental remediation, including: uncertainties in the nature and extent of
subsurface contamination; ever-tightening cleanup levels; changing regulatory
requirements; emerging contaminants of concern; multiple technological
approaches; impacts on facility operations and real estate values, and external
drivers such as stakeholder reaction/acceptance. The responsibility to deliver
this higher level of accuracy and assurance typically falls to corporate
environmental managers, their staff, and their external environmental
consultants and advisors.
In response to these changing requirements
and expectations, the environmental and management professions have developed
new standard practices/guidance, analytical methods and software tools for
improving the cost estimating and cash flow management for environmental liabilities.
The effects of emerging claim and coverage issues on
the insurance business are uncertain. As
industry practices and legal, judicial, social and other environmental
conditions change, unexpected and unintended issues related to claim and
coverage may emerge. These issues may
adversely affect the business by either extending coverage beyond the
underwriting intent or by increasing the number or size of claims. Examples of emerging claims and coverage
issues include, but are not limited to:
·
judicial
expansion of policy coverage and the impact of new theories of liability;
·
the
assertion of "public nuisance" or similar theories of liability,
pursuant to which plaintiffs seek to recover monies spent to administer public
health care programs, abate hazards to public health and safety and/or recover
damages purportedly attributable to a "public nuisance";
·
medical
developments that link health issues to particular causes, resulting in
liability claims;
·
claims
relating to unanticipated consequences of current or new products
Biological
Activity of Steroid Hormones in U.S. Streams
Testing of U.S.
streams has detected glucocorticoid and androgen biological activity. In a
collaborative study between the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Laboratory
of Receptor Biology and Gene Expression, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
and others, scientists studied the potential for the biological activity in
streams of glucocorticoids and androgens hormones—both potential
endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Scientists tested water samples using a new
cell-based bioassay that tested for molecular responses triggered by the
presence of glucocorticoids and androgens in water. They found glucocorticoid
and androgen activity in 27 and 35 percent of the water samples, respectively,
potentially indicating the widespread occurrence of these hormones in streams.
Glucocorticoids—steroid
hormones commonly referred to as "stress hormones"—are known for
their potential to decrease immune responses. Glucocorticoid-based
pharmaceuticals (hydrocortisone and prednisone, for example) are
widely prescribed to relieve inflammation. Androgens are anabolic steroids
that affect the development and maintenance of male characteristics, as well as
other physiological functions. Depending on the timing of exposure,
glucocorticoids and androgens can affect the endocrine systems of living
organisms, but unlike estrogenic chemicals, not much is known about their
occurrence in the environment.
USGS scientists
provided extracts for testing from more than 100 water samples from streams and
rivers located in 14 States. The testing method the NCI researchers developed
allowed them to detect the activation of cell receptors or genes that respond
specifically to glucocorticoids or androgens. Activation of fluorescently
tagged cell receptors led to visual evidence of the presence of glucocorticoids
or androgens in the samples of stream water. Other molecular methods were used
to confirm that specific genes were turned on.
Considering that both
glucocorticoids and androgens influence body development and metabolism, and
have the potential to influence normal reproductive, endocrine, and immune
system function, their presence in the environment has potential implications
for wildlife and human health.
Chemicals
from Land-Applied Biosolids Persist in Soil
Soil sampling in
Eastern Colorado indicated that some chemicals introduced to nonirrigated
farmland through biosolids application persisted through 468 days, and some
chemicals were sufficiently mobile to be detected in soil as deep as 126
centimeters below land surface.
A study by scientists
from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University-Pueblo
shows that some chemicals in biosolids that are applied to nonirrigated
farmland are sufficiently persistent and mobile to move into the soil beneath
farm fields. Biosolids are the treated solid-waste component of wastewater
treatment plant effluent; about 50 percent of the biosolids produced in the
United States are applied to land as a fertilizer.
The field-scale study
was initiated in 2007 in a semi-arid environment in eastern Colorado on land
with no previous history of biosolid application. Typical agronomic practices
were employed in the study. The biosolids, soil, and crop were monitored for a
year and a half, which enabled the evaluation of the persistence and movement
of contaminants from biosolids into the soil column after biosolid application.
Measurements indicate
that nonylphenols (commonly used in detergents and other manufacturing),
benzo[a]pyrene (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and byproduct of
incomplete combustion of organic matter), diethyl phthalate (commonly used in
plastics), d-limonene (a solvent obtained from citrus fruits), HHCB
(galaxolide, a polycyclic organic musk used in fragrances), and triclosan (an
antimicrobial) had migrated downward through the soil by 468 days after application.
The study also showed indications that uptake by mature wheat plants was
minimal. Soil and biosolid samples that were collected before and after
biosolids application and incorporation in the soil were analyzed for 57
chemicals of potential environmental concern. During harvest, wheat samples
were collected from control fields and from fields on which biosolids had been
applied.
Complex
Mixture of Contaminants Persists in Streams Miles from the Source
Natural
processes in stream ecosystems such as dilution and microbial degradation are
known to attenuate some contaminants to below levels that can cause harm to
ecosystems. However, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists has
shown that many chemicals discharged from municipal wastewater treatment
facilities persist for miles downstream at levels known, or suspected, to cause
adverse health impacts to aquatic organisms—including endocrine disruption in
fish. The study also showed that these persistent chemicals occur in complex
mixtures with unknown ecological consequences.
Overall,
there were 73 organic chemicals detected in the effluent from the Boulder,
Colorado, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and 56 chemicals detected in
Boulder Creek stream water below the WWTP discharge point. There were 98
organic chemicals detected in the effluent from the Ankeny, Iowa, WWTP and 71
chemicals detected in Fourmile Creek below the WWTP discharge point.
The
mixtures contained metal complexing agents, detergent degradation products,
personal care products, pharmaceuticals, steroidal hormones, pesticides, and
other compounds. The highest concentration compounds (greater than 100
micrograms per liter) detected in both WWTP effluents were
ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA – a metal complexing agent) and 4-
nonylphenolethoxycarboxylate (a detergent degradation product).
Concentrations
of pharmaceuticals were lower (less than 1 microgram per liter), and several
compounds, including carbamazepine (a drug used to control seizures) and
sulfamethoxazole (an antibiotic), were detected throughout sections of the two
streams that were studied.
The
results, published in Environmental
Science and Technology, are part of a long-term study of the fate,
transport, and ecological effects of the wastewater discharged into two streams
(Boulder Creek, Colorado, and Fourmile Creek, Iowa) from municipal wastewater
treatment plants. In a unique field application, the scientists used a sampling
approach that involved multiple locations along the streams (Lagrangian) to
ensure water samples and chemistry were representative of a parcel of water as
it flowed downstream from the point of wastewater discharge. Many of the
contaminants from the complex mixture of multiple types of chemicals (see text
box) showed little decrease in concentration, other than that due to dilution,
as they flowed down the approximately 6- to 8-mile segments of the streams
studied. Importantly, some of these contaminants persisted at concentrations
that are known, or suspected, to cause sublethal health effects to exposed
organisms. Furthermore, several chemicals in the complex mixtures identified in
this study are steroidal hormones and/or other chemicals that mimic estrogen,
which could have additive health effects. The ecological consequences of the
complex contaminant mixtures the scientists identified are poorly understood.
This
study was funded by the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program and Hydrologic
Research and Development Program. Additional support was received by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Detergents in Streams May Just Disappear
The Story of 4-n-nonylphenol
Biodegradation in Stream Sediments
USGS scientist measuring pH and
other water properties on the banks of Fourmile Creek, Iowa, before collecting
a sediment sample for laboratory biodegradation experiments
Since about 2000,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists have been finding the chemical
breakdown products (degradation products) of household detergents in streams
downstream from wastewater treatment plants WWTPs. Detergent degradation
products are among the most frequently detected compounds in stream samples and
are among the compounds measured at the highest concentrations. Environmental
professionals are concerned about these compounds because scientists have shown
that a class of degradation products known as nonylphenols can disrupt normal
hormonal (endocrine) function in fish. To help determine the environmental fate
and transport of detergent degradation products discharged into streams from
WWTPs, USGS scientists assessed the potential for naturally occurring
microorganisms to remove one common detergent degradation product (4-n-nonylphenol) from stream
sediments.
This process of
natural degradation by microorganisms is called biodegradation. In a laboratory
setting the scientists tested the ability of 4-n-nonylphenol to biodegrade naturally in the
environment using actual stream sediment from three streams. Sediments were
collected from upstream and downstream of WWTP discharges. The experiments
demonstrated that naturally occurring microorganisms that inhabit the stream
sediments can biodegrade 4-n-nonylphenol
in sediments under oxic (with oxygen) conditions in the laboratory; however, no
biodegradation was observed in the laboratory under anoxic (without oxygen)
conditions. These results help explain the presence and absence of these
compounds in the environment, and may suggest ways to enhance natural removal
mechanisms. For example, WWTP practices that produce high dissolved-oxygen
concentrations in sediment and water downstream of wastewater discharges could
improve the potential for natural removal. Environmental professionals, water
resource managers, and WWTP managers can use this information to develop sound
programs and practices regarding the occurrence of emerging wastewater
contaminants in the environment.
Reference
Bradley, P.M.,
Barber, L.B., Kolpin, D.W., McMahon, P.B., and Chapelle, F.H., 2008, Potential
for 4-n-nonylphenol
biodegradation in stream sediments: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, v.
27, no. 2, p. 260-265, doi:10.1897/07-333.
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