ENERGY MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABIL ITY
What is the problem you may ask? What happens once these substances are out of the wastewater treatment systems? There are two possible actions. They can accumulate in the environment, trapped in sediments and sludge. In this form they remain for years, decades even, if not to say centuries for some substances. Alternatively, they are mobilised and return into our drinking water system.
Water treatment plants ensure access to good quality water. Yet when analysed, traces can be detected of all kinds of substances. These range from antibiotics and hormones, to chemicals. For example, a disinfectant active that is widely used in North America and Europe, called Triclosan has been shown in many studies to be traceable and measured in the water we’re drinking every day.
Naturally, it is within safe tolerances, but it’s there, moving in our water systems and it’s not biodegradable.
“From restaurants and schools to offices and food plants, the use of
disinfectant builds the concentration of disinfectant in the wastewater treatment plant.”
This overuse of disinfectants and use of non- biodegradable raw materials generates another issue: namely, the creation of multi-resistant microorganisms. It is a situation that is widely understood when referring to hospitals, and the overuse of antibiotics to treat human infection. Over time the microorganism mutates to become resistant to the antibiotic. The same happens with the incorrect use and over reliance on disinfectants. Consider how much disinfectant is being added to the water networks currently during the pandemic and not just from the healthcare sector.
So here is the irony. Products used to safeguard human life, ultimately may be doing us more harm than good. From restaurants and schools to offices and food plants, the use of disinfectant builds the concentration of disinfectant in the wastewater treatment plant. This exposes the microorganisms to a permanent low level of disinfectant in the treatment waters. The concentration is not enough to kill them. It is enough to stimulate gene transfer between the microorganisms and enough pressure to promote the growth multiplication of multi- resistant microorganisms.
We are effectively proving in the modern age the Darwinian concept of natural selection. We apply a pressure on the community of living organisms and we then create conditions that will promote the growth and
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survival of those who are equipped to face that pressure. In our case, with disinfectants we are promoting mostly resistant microorganisms. Admittedly most will stay inside the wastewater treatment system, but many will be released into the environment. So, we transfer this natural selection that consequently drives pressure on aquatic toxicity
Toxicity, aquatic toxicity and how it
is different to biodegradability Let us start with toxicity. Toxicity is the capacity of a substance to be harmful to a specific living organism. It could be a bacterium for humans, for fish or for plants. Consider the example of snake venom. Snake venom is biodegradable. It’s organic, it’s natural, it’s biological but it’s toxic; it kills you. It is completely different.
So, what is aquatic toxicity? It is the capacity for a substance to be harmful to some or all aquatic organisms. Consider a lake, river, marsh, or pond – they all contain vertebrates or animals, but we should also consider the invertebrates. The insects, worms, crustaceans, clams, mussels, and all types of organisms that are all very helpful, if not to say necessary, for the quality of our water.
Any substance that has a high level of aquatic toxicity can be harmful for the aquatic ecosystem. This in turn is harmful for the quality of our water. This is a critical parameter which InnuScience always integrates in the development of any new formulations. Our aim is always to have the lowest level of aquatic toxicity.
By definition a disinfectant is a biocidal solution and most have a high aquatic toxicity count. Water gives life, water is life, which is why we pay so much attention to this part of our product development and why we champion the message of Justified Disinfection.
Justified Disinfection as a concept, argues that effective and thorough cleaning with high quality detergents across all non-critical touch surfaces is as effective, if not more so, than widespread use of disinfectants. By removing dirt and sources of food for pathogens from a surface through rigorous cleaning, the microbial load on any surface can be brought to levels that are not considered harmful.
The regular and widespread use of disinfectants does not provide a clean surface and can promote the development of resistant pathogens. Therefore, they should be used only on critical high frequency touch surfaces - door handles, keyboards, lift call buttons and handrails.
To conclude: we know this planet is all about water. Anything we use that is released into the sewage system, if it’s not biodegradable or if it’s persistent will end up in the natural environment and consequently end up in our drinking water. Anything that disturbs or affects the water composition, or its inhabitants is ultimately harmful for humankind.
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