Bob Powitz wanted to share this with the group as an FYI. Hi fellow professionals, As chair of the NSF Drinking Water Treatment Units Joint Committee, we always try to stay on top of the latest information on drinking water contaminants. As we learn more about health and environmental effects, we modify existing criteria and add new compounds to the list of toxins the treatment units are designed to remove. In fact, there is even a standard devoted to this concern: NSF/ANSI 401: Emerging Contaminants. It covers both point-of-use and point-of-entry devices. My colleague Dr. Bill Anderson from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, sent me this link two days ago that puts a whole new spin on the topic of "emerging contaminants"
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2113947119 By way of explanation, Bill writes: " Hi all…a huge study on pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers was recently published in the journal PNAS. The paper has 127 authors and presents “ a global-scale study of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) pollution in 258 of the world’s rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs .” “Of the four APIs detected across all continents, all were considered either lifestyle compounds or over-the-counter APIs: caffeine (stimulant and lifestyle compound), nicotine (stimulant and lifestyle compound), acetaminophen/paracetamol (analgesic), and cotinine (metabolite of a stimulant and lifestyle compound). An additional 14 APIs were detected in all continents except Antarctica: atenolol (ß-blocker), carbamazepine (antiepileptic), cetirizine (antihistamine), citalopram (antidepressant), desvenlafaxine (antidepressant), fexofenadine (antihistamine), gabapentin (anticonvulsant), lidocaine (anesthetic), metformin (antihyperglycemic), naproxen (anti-inflammatory), sitagliptin (antihyperglycemic), temazepam (benzodiazepine for insomnia treatment), trimethoprim (antimicrobial), and venlafaxine (antidepressant) .” I'm anxious to see what the regulatory community does with it. If nothing else, it is certainly worthy of discussion. Regards, Bob Robert W. Powitz, PhD, MPH, RS, DLAAS Forensic Sanitarian R.W. Powitz & Associates, PC P.O. Box 502 Old Saybrook, CT 06475-0502 (O) 860-388-0893; (C) 860-395-9214 Powitz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.sanitarian.com NSF Confidential