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Publish Date: 10/29/2008
DEET, chemicals found in Colorado?s water supplies
By Pamela Dickman
Loveland Reporter-Herald
BERTHOUD ? Colorado?s rivers flow with bubbling blue water, glistening habitat for fish, whitecaps prime for rafting, and medications, cleaners and a potentially dangerous substance used in pavement and plastic.
Researchers nationwide have found that many substances humans flush down their drains or throw into the landfill actually end up in rivers, lakes and groundwater, said Bill Battaglin, geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Colorado, too, has small amounts of over-the-counter and prescription drugs, cleaners and even caffeine in its water, Battaglin said Tuesday while speaking at the Big Thompson Watershed Forum annual meeting.
Scientists are learning what is in the water, but they do not know for sure if levels will increase and what these contaminants will mean for plants and wildlife, or for the operators tasked with treating the water for human use and even for the people who end up with the water pouring from their faucets.
?We know a lot more how to detect them than we do about biological effects,? said Battaglin. ?The biologists have a lot of work to catch up with the chemists.?
Tests have shown that the substances could affect bodily functions, metabolism, behavior and sexual development.
?With West Nile virus raging through Colorado, we?re seeing a lot of DEET in the water,? Battaglin aid. DEET, N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, is a chemical in mosquito repellents that is recommended to protect against West Nile virus.
Tests also have found high levels of caffeine in water and the prescription antidepressant Prozac in sediment. ?If you want to get your dose of Prozac, you?re going to have to eat the dirt,? Battaglin joked.
But all joking aside, he reiterated that drugs and substances leaching from waste into water supplies is a very serious matter.
Nonylphenol, potentially toxic to fish and wildlife, has been found in enough water supplies that Colorado adopted new standards that will be in place in 2010.
The substance may not be a household name, but it is a component used to make all kinds of goods in the average home ? cleaning supplies, textiles, paints, plastics, detergents and pesticides, said Battaglin. It also is used in paving roads.
Nonylphenol presents challenges to wastewater treatment plants ? facilities Battaglin calls ?our last hope.?
And researchers are looking at ways to prevent potential effects to plants, animals and people.
DEET, chemicals found in Colorado?s water supplies
By Pamela Dickman
Loveland Reporter-Herald
BERTHOUD ? Colorado?s rivers flow with bubbling blue water, glistening habitat for fish, whitecaps prime for rafting, and medications, cleaners and a potentially dangerous substance used in pavement and plastic.
Researchers nationwide have found that many substances humans flush down their drains or throw into the landfill actually end up in rivers, lakes and groundwater, said Bill Battaglin, geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Colorado, too, has small amounts of over-the-counter and prescription drugs, cleaners and even caffeine in its water, Battaglin said Tuesday while speaking at the Big Thompson Watershed Forum annual meeting.
Scientists are learning what is in the water, but they do not know for sure if levels will increase and what these contaminants will mean for plants and wildlife, or for the operators tasked with treating the water for human use and even for the people who end up with the water pouring from their faucets.
?We know a lot more how to detect them than we do about biological effects,? said Battaglin. ?The biologists have a lot of work to catch up with the chemists.?
Tests have shown that the substances could affect bodily functions, metabolism, behavior and sexual development.
?With West Nile virus raging through Colorado, we?re seeing a lot of DEET in the water,? Battaglin aid. DEET, N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, is a chemical in mosquito repellents that is recommended to protect against West Nile virus.
Tests also have found high levels of caffeine in water and the prescription antidepressant Prozac in sediment. ?If you want to get your dose of Prozac, you?re going to have to eat the dirt,? Battaglin joked.
But all joking aside, he reiterated that drugs and substances leaching from waste into water supplies is a very serious matter.
Nonylphenol, potentially toxic to fish and wildlife, has been found in enough water supplies that Colorado adopted new standards that will be in place in 2010.
The substance may not be a household name, but it is a component used to make all kinds of goods in the average home ? cleaning supplies, textiles, paints, plastics, detergents and pesticides, said Battaglin. It also is used in paving roads.
Nonylphenol presents challenges to wastewater treatment plants ? facilities Battaglin calls ?our last hope.?
And researchers are looking at ways to prevent potential effects to plants, animals and people.
