MONITORING CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES IN CANADIAN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER

Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) is designed to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of chemical substances or micropollutants. A key pillar of the CMP is on-going monitoring and surveillance of chemical substances in the environment, including a national wastewater monitoring program. An overview of results from this program is presented for pharmaceuticals and personal care products, brominated flame retardants, bisphenol A, nonylphenol ethoxylates, volatile methyl siloxanes, and perfluorinated compounds. Wastewater and solids treatment processes are not designed to remove chemical substances; however our results have demonstrated that some substances are removed by degradation or volatilization and some by partitioning to solids, while some are recalcitrant and remain in effluents. These results are used to improve our understanding and prediction of the fate of chemical substances during wastewater and solids treatment, and to determine if control measures are needed to prevent them from entering municipal wastewater.