Chemicals in water a growing concern, says environmentalist

Not enough testing is being done on drinking water for chemicals that can have negative effects on humans, says a Conservation Council of New Brunswick representative.

Inka Milewski, a marine biologist, is the science advisor for the conservation council.

Because the effects of many chemicals in drinking water are subtle and not immediately noticeable, Milewski said people don't worry about them the way they would deadly bacteria like E. coli.

"Dead people get people's attention."

Frank Duffy, the director of public works for Miramichi, said the city has three facilities that treat sewage and they store it in lagoons once it has been treated.

"From there it does go into the river."

Duffy said he didn't know how much drugs or hormones make it through the treatment process, but the department works with hospitals and pharmacies to ensure drugs are disposed of properly.

"The approach we take is to try and prevent anything from getting into the system."

Drinking water in New Brunswick is tested according to Health Canada guidelines and tests check for 37 metals, bacteria and other substances.

There are no Canadian guidelines for testing drinking water for hormones or pharmaceuticals and they are not included in required drinking water tests.

Milewski said drugs, hormones and chemicals that mimic hormones can make their way into rivers and lakes through waste water treatment facilities.

The natural water cycle filters out some substances as water evaporates and seeps into the ground, but it won't catch everything, she said.

"It is a growing concern."

Karen Kidd, a researcher with the Canadian Rivers Institute, said waste water treatment plants aren't designed to break down pharmaceuticals.

Some plants use a secondary treatment process which mixes water and bacteria and can remove about 75 per cent of the estrogen in waste water, she said. "That secondary treatment process is really important for removing estrogen."

Kidd said she has been involved in research in Ontario that looked at the effects of estrogen on fish populations.

The male fish became less successful at reproducing and started to develop feminine characteristics, like producing eggs, when birth control hormones were introduced into the water, she said. "The population collapsed."

Kidd said it's natural for women to excrete estrogen and the chemicals from birth control pills but once those chemicals leave the body they make their way into the sewage stream.

"Sometimes they're not broken down completely."

She added the hormones humans use are similar to fish reproductive hormones and fish take them in through their gills.

"It will affect all male fish."

Although hormones only last in rivers for a few days, it only takes a small amount of the hormones to have a feminization effect, she said. "Fish can be continually exposed to them."

In 1999, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans released the results of research conducted on New Brunswick rivers that examined the effects of nonylphenols and hormones on fish populations.

Nonylphenols mimic estrogen and were used in pesticides sprayed on New Brunswick forests to control spruce budworms in the 1970s and 1980s.

The researchers found the chemicals mimicked estrogen and salmon populations dropped during the period studied.

Milewski said there has also been research done in other areas which shows feminization in humans and other health problems caused by exposure to some chemicals.

"There are huge implications."

Research in New Brunswick is not focused on the effects on humans because that research is usually done at larger universities, she said. "The universities don't have the expertise or capacity to do this kind of work."

Milewski said the technology exists to remove those substances from drinking water and waste water, but systems aren't in place because cost is an issue for municipalities.

The public may demand better treatment once they know more about these issues, she said.

"Right now the public is largely unaware of these problems."

Milewski said the substances that end up in the water should be taken out of the environment.

"That's the best first step."