Rounding up Roundup – Removing Glyphosate from our Waterways!

  • 2020-10-22
  • Posted by: E2metrix
  • Category: Municipal & Sanitary
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Glyphosate is a synthetic herbicide known more widely as the active ingredient in the “Roundup” branded products.  Nearly 10 million tons(1) of glyphosate has been sprayed on fields since its introduction to the world in the 1970s.  As a result, this agent has been detected in waterways near soya and corn growing regions.

In 2015, the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as “probably carginogenic to humans”(2), with a particular association between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Due to the havoc that this emerging contaminant has created, closer to home, the USA, Canada and the province of Quebec have all enacted very severe limits on glyphosate discharge in water to the environment.

Region Limit (mg/L) Reference
USA 0.7 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2015-title40-vol23/pdf/CFR-2015-title40-vol23.pdf
Canada 0.28 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/guidelines-canadian-drinking-water-quality-guideline-technical-document-glyphosate.html)
Quebec 0.21 https://www.canlii.org/en/qc/laws/regu/cqlr-c-q-2-r-40/latest/cqlr-c-q-2-r-40.html

Glyphosate is one of a growing list of emerging contaminants, along with PFAS, pharmaceutical waste and hormones that are troubling,  Though eliminating these contaminants at source is the ultimate solution,  our waterways need protection now.

E2metrix can address glyphosate, along with a slew of other emerging contaminats using ECOTHOR™, its highly efficient, environmentally-friendly, easy-to-operate water treatment systems.  In tests performed on a number of wastewater streams, ECOTHOR™ successfully and cost-effectively reduced the levels of glyphosate to below the most stringent of limits.  Here is just one example of ECOTHOR’s positive impact on glyphosate elimination in water:

Glyphosate (mg/L)
Sample Raw Water ECOTHOR™-Treated % Reduction
20200922-1 1.1 0.033 97.0

For glyphosate at high or low concentrations, or for a host of other emerging contaminants, please let E2metrix be your partner in addressing this.  For more information on how we can help, please contact Tom Whitton at (514) 601-1316 or twhitton@e2metrix.com.

 

(1) https://usrtk.org/pesticides/glyphosate-health-concerns/

“…Worldwide 9.4 million tons of the chemical has been sprayed on fields – enough to spray nearly half a pound of Roundup on every cultivated acre of land in the world…”

(2) https://usrtk.org/pesticides/glyphosate-health-concerns/

“…World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” after reviewing years of published and peer-reviewed scientific studies. The team of international scientists found there was a particular association between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma…”