UPDATE: Tucson Water Director Dave Modeer has publicly stated that Tucson Water has abandoned any efforts to directly deliver treated sewage to our taps, which in any case circumvents state law. Our concerns about treated sewage have changed our leaders’ minds. This issue should certainly in no way lead anyone to vote for the misguided sprawl-inducing, aquifer draining muddle known as Proposition 200 on the November 2007 ballot.

Back in June, I blogged about Fred Ronstadt’s enthusiasm for reclaimed effluent, otherwise known as Toilet to Tap. He endorsed the idea of us drinking sewage water, regardless of the possible implications on human health.

On Sunday, the Star’s Tony Davis revealed that a just-released UofA study has shown astonishing prevalence of gender-switching in native fish after being immersed for just three months in treated effluent from our very own Roger Road treatment plant.

Yep, you heard right. Male and female bonytail chubs living in Tucson’s treated sewage contained up to five times more hormones from the opposite sex in their tissue than their own sex. Male fish tested in Colorado treated sewage had actually grown female sex organs.

Here’s where David Walker, a UA research scientist who is a lead investigator on the fish study, connects the dots:

“Little federal dollars have been spent on examining the effect of these compounds on wildlife, let alone humans, but I will say that all vertebrates share remarkably similar endocrine systems,” said Walker, adding that he “absolutely” believes that his fish study results have human implications.

That’s just the hormone study. We are still awaiting the study’s findings on how waste pharmaceuticals are affecting these fish, and will affect us if we are forced to drink treated sewage in the future.

Perhaps it’s time to make clear to Tucson Water that reclaimed effluent is simply not the way to provide a safe water supply. Water conservation, yes. Water harvesting, yes. Sustainable development, yes. Drinking treated sewage, no.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2005 at 7:42 am and is filed under Protecting the Environment, Public Health, Respecting Citizens, Sensible Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.