Are there thresholds for pharmaceutical chemicals in wastewater?
A. Rex: There are no limits for pharmaceuticals. MWRA is studying estrogen-mimicking chemicals in its effluent, in Boston Harbor, and in Mass Bay. The understanding of effects of these chemicals in the environment is still an evolving science, and there needs to be more done in the regulatory area as well. M. Mickelson: Perhaps the most comparable monitoring program to MWRA is in southern California. Another large monitoring program is in Puget Sound in Washington State. MWRA is currently the largest effluent monitoring program in the world. Audience: Why have there been so many beach closing on Cape Cod in the summer of 2001? Is this caused by the MWRA outfall pipe? A. Solow: The beach closings are not from the outfall. A. Rex: We are very confident that the beach closings are not caused by the outfall. We do monitoring in the area around the outfall pipe, and we rarely detect any sewage-related bacteria out there. The beaches on Cape Cod are so far away from the outfall, that it is n
