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。 越来越多的人担心食品和个人护理产品中添加剂的使用，这些添加剂最终进入污水系统，并可能影响这些处理厂。 这些添加剂中较常见的一种是二氧化钛（TiO 2），它通常以微小颗粒的形式添加到食品，牙膏，防晒霜和护肤品中。 据估计，全球TiO 2的年产量约为85，000吨。TiO 2在个人护理产品中的普遍存在意味着很大一部分会被冲下下水道（例如，使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大都会污水处理区和威斯康星州大学麦迪逊分校合作，研究通过个人护理产品使用进入废水处理厂的TiO 2。 正在从公民科学家那里收集信息，以按家庭列出消费品中的TiO 2含量。这些信息将被用于模拟二氧化钛进入污水处理厂，并确定这可能对水质和环境的危害程度。该研究项目正在生成第一个家庭层面的二氧化钛消费品清单，并确定进入污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TiO 2进入处理厂并最终进入环境（通过处理厂的污水和农业利用的生物固体）的潜在解决方案。这项工作正在确定个人护理产品中的TiO 2是否是TiO 2进入环境的主要途径。这项研究也从政策的角度来看，特别是在未来的监管TiO 2的影响。拟议工作的具体目标是：1）根据公民科学家的反应，创建含TiO 2的个人护理产品的家庭相关库存，2）根据家庭概况，对进入处理厂并最终排放到接收沃茨的TiO 2进行建模，以及3）举行公民科学家圆桌会议，以展示研究结果，并从市民那里了解未来的解决方案。公民科学家圆桌会议将在拟议工作的清点和建模阶段完成后举行。完成调查的麦迪逊大都会污水处理区服务区的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.