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Activities of the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Pharmaceuticals in Water
Citation:
Etzel, R., J. Laurenson, C. Flaherty, H. Zahner, K. Gallagher, W. Hunter, C. Cooper, K. Lee, K. Fitzgerald, L. Strutz, S. Glassmeyer, C. Williams, L. Larimer, B. McIntyre, B. Knieser, K. Prinn, A. Jarvis, B. Soares, Jim Lazorchak, AND D. Iwanowicz. Activities of the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Pharmaceuticals in Water. Presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY, November 12 - 16, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster discusses the work accomplished by the pharmaceuticals in water (PIW) interagency workgroup, and is an opportunity to share our work with the greater scientific community.
Description:
In 2021, a four-Party Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, the US Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration , and the US Department of Interior US Geological Survey, was signed with the goal of improving and sustaining federal coordination and collaboration on ecological and human health issues related to pharmaceuticals in drinking water. This MOU supports a Pharmaceuticals in Water (PIW) Workgroup consisting of the four signatory agencies of the MOU as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences National Toxicology Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Office of the Surgeon General, and the Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen. The PIW facilitates a forum for the exchange of information, coordination of joint studies, and interagency consultation on research findings and implications of detecting pharmaceuticals in the water resources and in drinking water. The Workgroup has created an internal database describing known federal research activities related to pharmaceuticals in water. Potential data gaps in research needs were identified and grouped based on the Boxall et al. (2012) “Big Questions” article. Ongoing activities to address data gaps include developing human health benchmarks for pharmaceuticals as an approach to prioritize potential human health risks of pharmaceuticals in water; developing water quality benchmarks for veterinary pharmaceuticals; prioritizing pharmaceutical classes for environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act regulations; studying the effects of pharmaceutical mixtures; and monitoring pharmaceuticals and other chemicals of emerging concern in water. The workgroup has resulted in better understanding of federal research activities related to pharmaceuticals in water across agencies and provided a forum to solicit feedback on these activities. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views or policies of the US EPA, US FDA, DOD, USDA, NIH, or OTSG.