They don't dump it in the water. They dump it in the forests.
In WA specifically, "sewage" is processed for as many contaminants as possible. Then, they put it in trucks and drive into the Cascades and spray it in the forests. They call it bioremediation - but it seeps into the groundwater, which then goes to streams. Where do all the streams end up? Puget sound.
If you wander up past the locked gates of the timber roads near Snoqualmie or Snohomish, you'll find flame retardants, opioids, caffeine, fluorocarbons, and whatever other toxins that ultimately never gets absorbed by the forests.
By the way, this practice of using biosolids in agriculture or forests is very politically charged because there's a lot of money tied up with this industry and the people who wound up writing the bulk of the EPA regulation around this industry. Every time you hear of an E. coli outbreak in some vegetable, it's because of this.
This is something I wish more people knew about, or at least stop to consider where their waste ends up.
Hmm. When you hear about E. coli outbreaks in vegetables, it's traced back to fecal contamination on the worker's or processing equipment's working surfaces.
I looked to find any sources with high quality scientific evidence showing accumulation of toxic waste in timber roads in WA. I am an open minded scientist, if you post high quality work I'll read it and change my mind.
"There are three general methods for applying biosolids to forests: 1) spray irrigation with either a set system or a traveling gun, 2) spray application by an application vehicle with a spray cannon, and 3) application by a throw-spreader or manure-type spreader. In the Pacific Northwest, the most common methods for forest applications are the throw-spreader or a vehicle-mounted cannon. Table 7.7 lists these application methods, their range, relative costs, advantages and disadvantages, and their suitability for biosolids of different solids contents."
To be fair, the Sound has hundreds of trillions of pounds of water. 97,000 pounds of anything isn't going to make a big difference. But it would be awesome if we could stop polluting it.
"One hundred and six wastewater treatment plants, discharging as much as 97,000 pounds of chemicals each year, are located around Puget Sound."
https://news.vice.com/article/seattle-area-salmon-are-loaded...