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Issue link: http://wateronline.epubxp.com/i/212760
Trends The Shifting Challenges Of Wastewater Testing Wastewater constituents are getting more plentiful and complex, requiring more advanced tools to maintain regulatory compliance. By Jeanne A. Mensingh and Colin Thurston W astewater treatment, like other industries that rely heavily on dynamic sampling programs, has had to implement far more rigorous testing in recent years. But, unlike food safety, oil and gas, or even drinking-water monitoring, the biggest challenge hasn't come from stricter regulations or standards. The most significant hurdle has been a fundamental change in the wastewater stream itself. The wastewater stream is more contaminated than ever, with more diverse and exotic compounds — overprescribed pharmaceuticals, for example — and this places a heavier burden on treatment facilities to ensure their output is safe. Providers must dramatically increase their sample load, and the overall number and complexity of tests, simply to remain in compliance with pre-existing regulations. How can these already overtaxed sampling programs increase throughput without financially straining the communities or organizations they serve? How can they maintain public health in the face of unprecedented wastewater contamination? One answer is data management: using a laboratory information management system (LIMS) to do more with less. Automating tests and eliminating manual procedures through a LIMS allow wastewater treatment systems to shoulder increased testing loads while actually improving efficiency and testing efficacy. The Changing Waste Stream We know that new contaminants are taxing the wastewater stream, but why are they such a problem? To answer that question, we first need to explore what happens to wastewater. While there are many final destinations for treated wastewater, it has a consistent (and obvious) source, and sampling begins early on. Water treatment providers dispatch technicians to upstream sample wells across their regions to test wastewater before it reaches a treatment facility. In the past, test results were handwritten on paper, and the data slowly made its way into a hard-copy report. With a LIMS, however, technicians use mobile devices to record bar codes, readings, and coordinates, allowing realtime (and more accurate) sample reporting and aggregation. Downstream plants can use this data to prepare for treatment ahead of time, expediting the process. 16 wateronline.com ■ The wastewater treatment process, from primary and secondary treatment to disinfecting, is complex, and involves multiple steps. Rigorous testing is done throughout to ensure that any water exiting a treatment facility — for any eventual use — is safe. Technicians use spectrometry, chromatography, and wet chemistry to analyze wastewater for harmful contaminants such as heavy metals and antibiotics. Antibiotics — which recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, show are being overprescribed — enter the wastewater stream through human waste and improper disposal of leftover pharmaceuticals A LIMS provides easy-to-access and easy-to-read data. Water Online The Magazine