State now tests what you wash down the drain
EUGENE, Ore. -- Eugene's Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility gets rid of a lot of gunk from the water - but not all of it.
The state now requires Oregon's largest cities to test for 118 pollutants. The problem is most of the chemicals on the list are in things most people use every day.
The list includes chemicals found in deodorants, hairsprays, sunscreens and toothpastes.
The goal of the bill is to reduce the levels of these potentially harmful chemicals in the community. The Eugene-Springfield plant sent the first test off in June. If the test comes back positive, the wastewater management team will have to find a way to reduce those levels.
"It will be a very interesting thing," General Manager Ron Bittler said. "It will take a lot of partnering within the community with various different agencies and educating starting with school children on up."
KVAL News asked Bittler how realistic he thinks the goals of the bills are.
"I think we will wait to see the outcome," Bittler said. "But the alternatives are very expensive treatment processes so I think this is really the cost-effective and best approach is to take it through a public education reduction plan."
Cheryl Grabham works for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. She's in charge of implementing the bill.
"You know we don't have enough information yet to know even which pollutants we are talking about that may or may not be for example in the waste water," Grabham said.
It's the same water that goes down the drains to the treatment center and into the rivers.
The test results should be in by the end of August.
