Organic Hazardous Substances in Graywater from Swedish Households Helena Almqvist1 and J rgen Han us2 Abstract The concentrations of several selected organic hazardous substances were investigated in domestic graywater In total 41 of 81 organic hazardous substances were found in concentrations above the detection limits nonylphenol and octylphenol ethoxylates brominated flame retardants organotin compounds polyaromatic hydrocarbons polychlorinated biphenyls phthalates linear alkyl benzene sulfonate and triclosan Moreover total solids biochemical oxygen demand BOD7 chemical oxygen demand COD total nitrogen total phosphorus potassium and sulphur were investigated and presented for graywater Another objective was to suggest potential household sources for a selected number of organic hazardous substances The present and past investigations reveal households to be obvious contributors of organic hazardous substances to municipal wastewater and that graywater is an important media in this transport The spreading derives from diffuse household sources like everyday activities laundry cleaning etc the wearing down of things such as pipe material and interior fittings and from airborne deposition DOI 10 1061 ASCE 0733 9372 2006 132 8 901 CE Database subject headings Wastewater management Hazardous wastes Municipal wastes Organic chemicals Sustainable development Sampling Sweden Introduction The effluents of wastewater treatment plants have been shown to be significant pathways for hazardous substances to enter an aquatic environment Daughton and Ternes 1999 Heberer 2002 A complete mineralization of xenobiotic compounds in treatment systems is rare with the term biotransformation more accurately describing the potential changes of such compounds Byrns 2001 Some compounds are biotransformed into harmless products and become degraded Other compounds form metabolites that may be more or less toxic than the parent while others may still prove to be generally recalcitrant and persist within the treatment plant Byrns 2001 Heberer 2002 Hazardous substances that resist degradation in wastewater treatment plants WWTPs may remain in the effluent and are either emitted to the receiving water or enter the sludge directly In areas where surface water originating partly from the effluent wastewater is used as a raw water source for drinking water production concentrations of these substances may gradually build up and pose a risk to human health van der Voet et al 2004 Hazardous substances that escape water and wastewater treatment continue to raise increasing 1 Lulea Municipality Technical Dept Water and Wastewater Management SE 97185 Lulea Sweden E mail helena almqvist tekn lulea se 2 Professor Dept of Civil and Environmental Engineering Division of Sanitary Engineering Lulea Univ of Technology SE 97187 Lulea Sweden E mail jorgen hanaeus ltu se Note Discussion open until January 1 2007 Separate discussions must be submitted for individual papers To extend the closing date by one month a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing Editor The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on January 6 2005 approved on December 5 2005 This paper is part of the Journal of Environmental Engineering Vol 132 No 8 August 1 2006 ASCE ISSN 0733 9372 2006 8 901 908 25 00 concerns especially regarding their potential effects in water ecosystems and on human fertility SIWI 2004 Numerous sources of wastewater generation exist in urban areas households enterprises public locations industries storm drainage etc Substances totaling 30 000 are regarded as everyday chemicals Commission of the European Communities 2001 that are regularly used in households with Eriksson et al 2002 further claiming that more than 900 xenobiotic organic compounds may potentially appear in graywater Apart from the operation and maintenance of existing systems wastewater management also includes the planning for future wastewater strategies and investments To evaluate existing wastewater systems and develop new wastewater strategies reliable information regarding the characteristics of domestic and municipal wastewater fractions urine feces graywater and stormwater is needed Graywater is generally defined as household wastewater without any input from toilets i e wastewater produced from bathing showering hand washing laundry and the kitchen sink Present knowledge about the characteristics of graywater is rather limited and there is an urgent need for more of this information to evaluate e g the chemical risk potential for graywater reuse and its effects in receiving waterbodies Jefferson et al 1999 Eriksson et al 2002 Palmquist 2004 According to Eriksson et al 2002 the literature data on graywater characteristics clearly focuses on oxygen consuming compounds biochemical oxygen demand BOD and chemical oxygen demand COD nutrients and some species of microorganisms A small number of studies report on heavy metals while information about organic hazardous substances in graywater is very limited Objectives and Scope The objective of this paper is to present the concentrations of several selected organic hazardous substances and macronutrients from domestic graywater and add this data into the recognized JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING ASCE AUGUST 2006 901 Table 1 Investigated Organic Hazardous Substances in Gebers Graywater Determinand Nonylphenol and octylphenol ethoxylates Brominated flame retardants Organotin compounds PAHs PCBs Phthalates LAS Triclosan Number of substances 20 Accredited contract laboratories Analytic method SGAB Analytica GC MS 13 SGAB Analytica GC MS 6 Ume University GC ICP MS 16 14 10 1 1 ALcontrol ALcontrol SGAB Analytica AnalyCen ITM Stockholm University GC MS GC MS GC MS GC MS GC MS Total number 81 Note GC MS gas chromatograph with the detector mass spectrometry and ICP inductively coupled plasma information gap in this area A total of 81 organic compounds nonylphenol and octylphenol ethoxylates brominated flameretardants organotin compounds polyaromatic hydrocarbons PAHs polychlorinated biphenyls PCBs phthalates linear alkyl benzene sulfonate LAS and triclosan were investigated as well as total solids TS biochemical oxygen demand BOD7 chemical oxygen demand COD total nitrogen Ntot total phosphorus Ptot potassium K and sulphur S A further objective was to suggest potential household graywater sources for a selected number of organic hazardous substances Gebers source
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