Microplastic poses growing concern in oceans and other aquatic habitat. Image by 5Gyres, courtesy of Oregon State University. |
George Hawkins, general manger of DC Water and fellow panelist, agreed. EPA and federal regulations are generally built on the principle of “the polluter pays,” he pointed out. “So if a company makes [a] table, and there are pollutants that are created in the makings of the table, we charge the cost of handling those pollutants to the company so it’s put into the price of the table,” he stated. “It goes from an externality to an internality.”
Microbeads should be approached the same way, he suggested. “Our facilities aren’t polluters in that context,” he said. “We are, in fact, the most important environmental actor anywhere we exist - which is everywhere - because we’re taking all the water that everybody else uses, and on their behalf, cleaning it for them.”
Wastewater treatment plants are, in this way, performing an enormous service, he continued. Yet, he observed, it’s a very possible outcome that requirements could be imposed upon wastewater treatment facilities to try to reduce microbeads from their discharge. “It’s exactly upside down,” he said. Rather, the burden should be imposed on the maker of the product - who is making revenue from it - and they should handle the issue. “Because they’re the ones who are creating it in the first place,” he said. “It’s cheaper on that front and that’s where regulations should go in the future.”
Angela Godwin
Chief Editor, WaterWorld
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