Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

Wastewater treatment plants DO NOT create PCBs. PCBs come from homes and businesses. Wastewater treatment plants remove PCBs while treating wastewater. 

How Do PCBs Enter the Wastewater System?

  • Atmospheric deposition
  • Stormwater runoff
  • Consumer products used in our homes:
    • residue rinsed off in showers and through human waste
    • dyes washed from clothing and fire retardant materials
    • pigments from recycled newsprint

Did you know? Yellow dyes have higher concentrations of PCBs!

PCBs can be found in Everyday Products:

  • Paint
  • Printing inks
  • Clothing pigment & dyes
  • Pesticides
  • Old fluorescent light ballasts
  • Lubricants and hydraulic fluids

 

The "PCB Regulatory Paradox"

While EPA allows PCB levels up to 50 ppm in products, Federal PCB water quality regulations allow only 0.000000064 ppm for any wastewater discharge.

PCB Regulatory Relationships (in parts-per-million)

Federal Allowance in Products

50 ppm (This is often referred to as "PCB-Free")

Federal Allowance in Drinking Water

0.0005 990

ID State Human Health Water Quality Criteria

(allowable in lakes and streams)

0.00000019 ppm

Federal Human Health Water Quality Criteria (allowable in lakes and streams)

0.000000064 ppm

Spokane Tribe Water Quality Standard (allowable in lakes and streams)

0.000000007 ppm

IMAGINE…   1 part-per million=

          • 1 inch in 16 miles
          • 1 minute in two years
          • 1 ounce in 32 tons
          • $0.01 in $10,000

What can I do?

The PCB source information is being discovered all the time, so stay tuned. 

Be a consumer advocate for plain packaging that uses less ink since a lot of common packaging contains PCBs due to inks and dyes.

Don't rinse chemicals, solvents, oil, paints, etc. down your home drains.

Learn what, why and where to dispose of hazardous waste at: Hazardous Materials | Kootenai County, ID