Personal Care Products in Wastewater Treatment

This is turn has led to improvements in river water quality with increased invertebrate populations leading to more diverse fish stocks. Almost all of the UK river systems report improvements in water quality. However the return of aquatic life means that we are becoming aware of other problems that remain undetected in polluted waters. A wide range of compounds, generically termed pcps (or personal care products) and which include pharmaceuticals, shampoo's deodorants etc. are routinely found in the influent to sewage treatment plants. Their fate during treatment is not well characterised and their impact on receiving watercourses even less so.

It is the aim of this one day event to review our present state of knowledge and discuss:

• The origin of pcp's and the typical concentrations found in sewage influents

• Their fate during the treatment process

• Those factors such as type of treatment process and operating conditions, that affect their concentrations in final effluent

• Their impact on the aquatic life in receiving watercourses

• Potential impacts on human health due to water abstraction

• The overall risks that might arise from discharge of pcps and an assessment of likely concerns