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Customer(s)

Customers:

 

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The Holly Hill Trust

 

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Underpinning knowledge

Sources of funding

NERC Studentship (2007-2011) supporting a PhD on ‘the sources and environmental fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in lowland river catchments’.

ESRC Studentship (2004-2009) supporting a PhD on ‘the Environmental and Health Implications of Oestrogenic Compounds in Sewage: Risks and Management Options’.

Holly Hill Trust & John Stanley Scholarship (2002-2006) supporting a PhD on ‘Evaluation of Pathways in the Development of the Environmental Risk Assessment of Pharmaceuticals’.

Similar cases

None listed.

Further articles

Voulvoulis N, Low concentrations of chemicals in the environment - Of concern to justify action?, Environmental Health: Resetting our Priorities, Salvador, Brazil, 06 Feb 2011 - 07 Feb 2011., 2011

The water, energy, food nexus as the basis for decision making to protect future generations and environmental health . N. Voulvoulis*, J. Bone, M. Head, J. Plant, J. Skolout, M. Vlachopoulou, Environmental Health 2013, Boston, USA, 03 - 06 Feb 2013.

Video - YouTube

Home > WaterR2B > Sectors > Water Utilities > Reducing risks from emerging contaminants in water

Reducing risks from emerging contaminants in water

The challenge

There has been mounting unease about the risk of synthetic chemicals to the environment and human health, particularly with regard to emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). While the occurrence of these contaminants in the water environment is usually very low, there may still be significant and widespread adverse environmental and human health consequences (e.g. cancer risk and adverse reproductive development) at the observed levels due to their potential cocktail and the effects of chronic exposure. There is therefore a need to better understand the fate and behaviour of these compounds in the water environment.

The solution

Environmental pollution is assessed in our work from a catchment perspective, recognising sources of chemicals in the context not only of background levels of contamination but also of all other inputs. Our work towards sustainability is risk-based, involving risk assessments that deal not only with “traditional” inputs but also with largely unregulated emerging contaminants.

Aimed at contributing to knowledge on the effects of chemicals on human health and the water environment, our work focused on:

  • Evaluating cosmetics as a potential source of environmental contamination,
  • Quantifying human exposure to endocrine disrupting (ED) pesticides via agricultural and non-agricultural exposure routes,
  • Analysing the link between estrogen exposure and testicular dysgenesis syndrome,
  • Developing a multi-criteria framework for qualitatively assessing the risks of human exposure to EDCs in the context of scientific uncertainty,
  • Determining the distribution and sources of PAHs in a river catchment,
  • Investigating household disposal of pharmaceuticals as a pathway for water contamination in the UK and the potential,
  • A comparison of risk assessment strategies for pharmaceuticals in the water environment, and 
  • The Potential ecological and human health risks associated with the presence of pharmaceuticals in the water environment.

Resulting benefits

The findings of the research facilitated management of emerging contaminants and inform future water policy. Providing insight into a little researched and understood topic, the work has helped strengthen scientific evidence and has contributed to the understanding of the sources and environmental fate of these chemicals and how they can be managed to deliver holistic water management.  One of the benefits arising from research such as this is that regulation is now increasingly underpinned by risk assessment and that responsibility for understanding and managing chemical risk is being transferred progressively to manufacturers and users.

Future directions

Underpinned by ongoing research, policy is evolving from the prevention of local pollution to the holistic management of environmental quality with emphasis on a precautionary approach.   In addition, new information has raised awareness of the global water industry and source polluters, which are now assessing management practices and treatment technologies.

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