ENVIRONMENT »» WATER »» EMERGING CONTAMINANTS »» Jan 04, 2021

Much of our drinking water comes from rivers and lakes which have wastewater treatment plants located on them. These facilities treat the water that is drained and flushed from nearly every American community. Besides stormwater sweeping contaminants into these waterways, there is concern that our sewage plants are also passing dangerous contaminants into our water supplies. Traditional sewage treatment plants kill pathogenic microorganisms before releasing treated water into our waterways, but there are many other contaminants they are unable to treat or remove. Typical wastewater contains many chemicals, pharmaceuticals and hormones - many of which remain biologically active after being discarded. These