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Geotechnical News September 2011
GEO-INTEREST
University of Virginia Engineering
Professors Provide Valuable Resource
to Calculate Pharmaceuticals Present
in Virginia Wastewater
In response to media headlines about
the presence of pharmaceuticals in
drinking water, professors from the
University of Virginia School of
Engineering and Applied Science have
developed a website,
,”
that allows Virginians to view estimated
concentrations of various prescription
and generic drugs present in their local
wastewater - before it is treated and
released to the environment.
“It is important for Virginia residents
to use our website as a tool to under-
stand the type and amount of drugs that
are present in their local wastewater,”
says Lisa Colosi, assistant professor of
civil and environmental engineering,
who co-led the website development
project. “This understanding will allow
Virginia residents to put information
they gather from the media into per-
spective.
“While most scientists agree that the
presence of pharmaceuticals in the wa-
ter supply is undesirable, the concen-
trations of these drugs are very low and
it is currently unknown what direct ef-
fects they may have on human health.”
Colosi worked on the project with
colleague James Smith and doctoral
student Karl Ottmar, both from the De-
partment of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. Several undergraduates
also worked on the project, includ-
ing rising third-year student Matthew
Quinn.
In addition to providing estimates
of the concentrations of pharmaceu-
ticals in local wastewater, the website
also features additional educational
resources. The website explains how
pharmaceuticals enter wastewater, typ-
ically when they are flushed down the
toilet or poured into a garbage disposal.
(As an alternative, the researchers rec-
ommend combining the drugs with cof-
fee, kitty litter or another unappealing
substance and disposing of them in the
trash.)
The site also briefly explains stan-
dard wastewater treatment processes in
the United States and Europe and how
pharmaceuticals are affected by the
treatment process.
“We hope that the resources fea-
tured within the website will de-sensa-
tionalize the issue of pharmaceuticals
in wastewater,” Colosi said. “Addi-
tionally, we hope to provide individu-
als with an understanding of how their
personal choices directly affect the
water quality and the ecosystem within
Virginia and on a global scale. We hope
that this will encourage individuals to
consciously make decisions that are
better for the water quality and health
of the ecosystem.”
The Virginia Environmental En-
dowment sponsored the project as part
of its mission to improve the quality of
the environment by preventing pollu-
tion, conserving natural resources and
promoting environmental literacy.
“Dr. Colosi and her colleagues at
the University of Virginia have clear-
ly demonstrated a way for citizens to
find out what kind of pharmaceuticals
are in Virginia’s water,” said Gerald
P. McCarthy, executive director of the
Virginia Environmental Endowment.
“They have also offered constructive
ideas for what to do about that. The
Virginia Environmental Endowment
is very pleased to have supported such
useful research as well as the related
graduate and undergraduate education
obtained by the students who worked
on this important project.”
