EAGER: PPER: GOALI: Down the drain - using citizen science to inventory titanium dioxide in personal care products

城市污水处理厂的良好水质对公众健康和安全至关重要。食品和个人护理产品中越来越多地使用添加剂，这些添加剂最终进入污水系统，并可能影响这些处理厂，这是一个日益受到关注的问题。这些添加剂中最常见的一种是二氧化钛（TiO2），它通常以微小颗粒的形式添加到美白食品、牙膏、防晒霜和护肤品中。据估计，全球TiO2的年产量约为85,000吨。二氧化钛在个人护理产品中无处不在，这意味着很大一部分二氧化钛被冲进了下水道（例如，用牙膏清洁牙齿或通过淋浴洗掉乳液）。这个公民科学项目是与麦迪逊都市污水区和威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校合作开展的，旨在研究二氧化钛通过个人护理产品的使用进入污水处理厂。正在从民间科学家那里收集信息，以清点家庭消费品中二氧化钛的含量。这些信息随后被用于模拟二氧化钛进入废水处理厂的情况，并确定这对水质和环境的危害程度。该研究项目正在生成第一个家用二氧化钛消费品库存，并确定进入废水处理厂的二氧化钛数量是否足以引起关注和潜在的处理中断。这项研究将公民科学家纳入双向信息流，并将确定TiO2进入处理厂并最终进入环境的潜在解决方案（通过处理厂的废水和农业利用的生物固体）。这项工作是为了确定个人护理产品中的TiO2是否是TiO2进入环境的主要途径。这项研究也有从政策的角度来看，特别是关于TiO2的未来监管的影响。拟议工作的具体目标是：1)根据公民科学家的反馈创建一个包含个人护理产品的TiO2家庭相关清单；2)根据家庭概况对进入处理厂并最终排放到接收水的TiO2进行建模；3)举行公民科学家圆桌会议，展示研究结果，并从公民那里获得未来解决方案的见解。公民科学家圆桌会议将在完成拟议工作的清单和建模阶段后举行。完成调查的麦迪逊都市污水处理区服务区居民将被邀请参加圆桌讨论。该模型的一个版本将提供给公民科学家使用。

Good water quality from municipal wastewater treatment plants is critical to public health and safety.  A growing concern is the increasing use of additives to food and personal care products that ultimately enter the sewage systems and may affect these treatment plants.  One of the more common of these additives is titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is often added as tiny particles to whiten foods, toothpastes, sunscreen, and skin care products.  The estimated global annual production of TiO2 is about 85,000 tons. The ubiquity of TiO2 in personal care products means that a significant portion is washed down the drain (for example, using toothpaste to clean teeth or washing lotions off through showering). This Citizen Science project is a partnership with the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District and the University of Wisconsin - Madison to study TiO2 entering the wastewater treatment plant through personal care product usage.  Information is being collected from citizen scientists to inventory the amounts of TiO2 in consumer products by household. This information is then being used to model TiO2 entry into the wastewater treatment plant and to determine how detrimental this may be to water quality and the environment.This research project is generating the first household level inventory of TiO2 enabled consumer products and determining whether the quantity of TiO2 entering the wastewater treatment plant is sufficient to cause concern and potential treatment disruptions. This research integrates citizen scientists in a two-way flow of information and will determine potential solutions for the entry of TiO2 into the treatment plant and eventually the environment (through effluent from the treatment plant and agriculturally utilized biosolids). This work is determining if TiO2 from personal care products is a major route of TiO2 entering the environment. This research also has implications from a policy standpoint, in particular with respect to future regulation of TiO2. The specific objectives of the proposed work are: 1) Create a household relevant inventory of TiO2 containing personal care products based on citizen scientist responses, 2) Model the TiO2 entering the treatment plant and eventually discharged to receiving waters as a function of the household profiles, and, 3) Hold a citizen scientist roundtable meeting, to present the results of the study, and gain insight from the citizens into future solutions. The Citizen Scientist Roundtable meeting will be held after the completion of the inventory and modeling stages of the proposed work. The residents of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District service area who complete the survey will be invited to the roundtable discussion. A version of the model will be available for the citizen scientists to use.