sources include livestock, agriculture, pets, and aquaculture.
Humans typically excrete 50 to 90 percent of the active
ingredients in ingested drugs, either as unmetabolized
pharmaceuticals or as metabolites. When these excreted
chemicals leave the body, they typically enter a municipal
wastewater treatment facility, an on-site sewage system, or a
reclaimed water treatment facility. Treatment processes vary in
their treatment efficiency for PPCPs. Typically, wastewater from
the treatment system is discharged into the environment.
Consumers dispose of an estimated 25 to 33 percent of
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Washington Department of Ecology's
Brandi Lubliner collects a sample
at a wastewater treatment plant.