Kuldip Kumar
Senior Environmental Scientist, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Chicago

As a result of our modern lifestyle and widespread use of chemicals in many applications, large amounts of chemical residues from industries, agriculture, and homes are being continuously released into the wastewater stream, some of which may find their way into the environment and often referred to as emerging contaminants (ECs).  The excessive use of chemicals has caused pollution of the environment, and many ECs have been detected in our food (e.g., fish, meat, milk, and fresh produce), and detectable levels of many ECs have been reported in breast milk, adipose tissues (body fat), and serum of humans. This begs an important question: What is the major exposure pathway by which humans are exposed to ECs? Some reports suggested that dietary exposure is not the most likely route of human exposure, but others opined that many ECs may enter the terrestrial environment via land application of biosolids or animal manure and then find their way into the food chain. The presentation will show that the exposure of ECs via land application of biosolids/manure represents a de minimis risk to human health.

Dr. Kuldip Kumar is a Senior Environmental Scientist with MWRD Chicago. He was more than 25 years of experience in the area of water quality especially fate and transport of nutrients and other environmental stressors like pharmaceuticals and personal care products. For the last 5 years, his focus has been on evaluating and developing new technologies to recover resources from wastewater with a focus on nutrients removal and recovery. Dr.  Kumar also serves on the editorial board of Agronomy Journal and he is the Chair of Soil and Environmental Quality Division of Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Kumar has published over 70 research articles/book chapters and has served on many federal grant review panels.